


Fūrin Kazan

by MehEds



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Complete, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 10:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6324829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MehEds/pseuds/MehEds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain. That's what Fūrin Kazan actually means. Each element is wildly different, yet complement each other. Like the guild itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Day

Kirito looked at his appearance. The comforting veil of anonymity the Internet has always provided, is gone. He looked for a certain headband on the group of people. Klein… changed. The ridiculously handsome face was replaced with a rugged one. They stare at each other.

"Klein, follow me!"

"What?!" Kirito shuffled through people, going right to a empty alley. Klein cluelessly watched Kirito checking his inventory, an maps.

"Klein, there's a village not far from the starting city. We have to go there and grind with the spawning points there."

"Kirito, what are you doing?" Kirito looked at him confused. "I'm telling what we're going to do next. Why?" Klein smiled sadly.

"I have friends in this game. I have to find them." Kirito leaned his back against a wall, head low. "Klein, I don't think I could take you, and your friends. I.. You know that, right?" Klein shrugged.

"Yeah, I sorta figured…" a silent moment passed. Klein looked at the downtrodden 14 year old. "Bye." Kirito walked away, to the abandoned streets.

_Klein knows the basics, right?_ Kirito reasoned with himself. _He'll be fine_. A moment passed before another thought hit him. _Wait, how many friends does he have?!_ This thought plagued him. _They might stay, try to grind around here_. He sat down, trying to sort out his guilt.

_What's their skill level?_

_What if Klein doesn't find his friends?_

His guilt haunted him, and he turned around. Sure enough, Klein was absent. He walked to a nearby inn.

_I need more time._

On the way, a girl brushed him aside, covering her face with hands. Kirito looked at her with confusion.

_What's up with her?_

He walked along, and rented a room. It was small, with a single bed with a tucked in blanket, two end tables and lamps, with a window, showing the sun almost obscured by the horizon. He collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to convince himself.

_Klein's gonna be fine. Klein's gonna be fine._ He looked out the window again. The sky was dark blue. He sat up, opening a enlarged map of the starting floor, distracting himself by studying it, and checking possible gear upgrades. But when he finally rested, his last thought before sleeping lingered on his mind.

_Klein's not gonna be fine._

On the opposite room to him, a girl crouched on the corner, still awake, and covered with blankets. She brushed tears away from reddish eyes, traumatized from the sudden death rule revelation.

The First Day came to an end.

* * *

"Oh, about time." Kirito stretched. Horunka Village was nearby. There wasn't a lot of buildings, but it could serve as a hunting base. There wasn't a lot of players around. He entered a two story house, causing an NPC to run to him.

"Excuse me, but would you like a cup of water? We don't have any food." The NPC offered. "Yes." Then he heard coughs from another room.

"Is there anything wrong with whoever's inside?"

"Yes, my daughter's sick, and whatever medicine I can find, doesn't affect her." Kirito knew the quest intro was on the right track.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes! There's these creatures around the forest, Little Nepents, they're called, and they're big, with branches that can hit you. And some of them, has a flower on top. I need you to get that flower for me to make a tea with it to heal her. And as a reward, I can give you a long sword that was passed down from my ancestors. Are you up to the task?" A quest prompt appeared in front of him.

[Accept quest, "Secret Medicine of the Forest"]

[Accept]

He knew the challenges that would face him. The flower was extremely rare. He headed out to the fields, looking for the creatures.

"This is how you do it, 'kay?" A Sword Skill sound effect played. Kirito looked around, familiar with the voice.

"It's pretty hard…" A slightly deep but timid voice replied. Kirito looked around even more, heading to the sound of the voices.

"You'll get it, Dale." The casual sounding voice rang again in his head. Kirito went over a hill, to find about half a dozen people with starting weapons and armor. The man in front of them raised his Curved Sword against a Little Nepent. That one had a flower. Kirito unsheathed his sword and ran as fast as he can. But not only because of the quest objective. The man had a red headband.

"This seems to be a little too hard, Klein," a very elfish-like man called out, raising a spear. "Relax-" Klein was whipped aside by a branch, sending him to a nearby tree. Kirito suddenly appeared next to the Nepent, a long blue gash appearing at it's side. The creature turned around, trying to hit Kirito with a branch. He ducked, and his sword glowed, and he dashed through, disintegrating it to countless shards.

"Uh, who the _hell_ are you?" a man with a long face and stubble asked the preteen. "He's Kirito." Klein groaned as he stood up.

"Klein, what are you doing here? I expected you to stay in the Starting City."

"I heard you say that you were going to grind here. I followed that advice."

"Klein, how do you know him?" A big, stocky man asked.

"Well, Dale, I asked him for help yesterday. He's a beta tester. That's why I know how to use Sword Skills." The beta tester revelation further boosted Kirito's reputation with the group.

"Can any of you actually use Sword Skills?" Kirito questioned the group. "Beside's Klein, not really. I did it once, though." A man with a bandana and thin moustache answered. "Yeah, we're sorta screwed." Another agreed. Kirito looked at the group as a whole.

"Klein, um, I reconsidered my plan. Can I join you?" His face lit up. "Yeah, of course!"

"I'm only with you until you can handle yourselves, though."

"That's totally fine!" One person called out. "Okay, I'm Dynamm!" The guy with the bandana said. "This is Issin," the elfish man waved. "Dale," the large man shook his hand. "Harry One and Two; they're twins." Two young-faced people waved. One was calm, and the other was very excited. "Aaand, Kunimittz, the half-bastard," the long-faced man rolled his eyes. "Really?"

"Welcome to the team!"

Kirito can't help but chuckle.

"Weapons?"

"Curved Sword," Klein called out.

"Mace and shield," the twins raised hammers. Dynamm equipped a small round shield and sword.

"I have a greatsword," Dale informed. Issin and Kunimittz held out spears. Kirito nodded.

"Dale, Harry One and Two, you should equip heavy armor. You will handle the numerous, small enemies. Hit a lot of enemies with one strike. Issin, you will support Dale, watch his back, but have a bodyguard. Take one of the twins. Kunimittz, you too. You're the forwards, used to take the brunt of the load in the fight. Party up with each other." Kirito faced Klein. "Party up with me. We're similar in fighting styles."

"What about me?" Dynamm asked.

"You take anybody that passes through the forwards. You're not a forward, so use medium armor to be quicker."

"Kirito, what do we do?" Klein asked.

"We take down the stronger enemy types that might come with the weaker ones." Once everyone was prepared, they set out.

"I'm picking something up."

They later watched Kirito receive a sword with a gleaming whitish blade.

"This is the Anneal Blade. Who has One-Handed Sword as a skill?" Bandana guy raised his hand. "We'll get one for you. Meanwhile, we're doing another quest."

"What is it?"

* * *

"I'm sorry, we're _fetching_ a jar of cream?!" Issin yelled. "Yeah," Kirito said smoothly. "Okay, I thought we were going to hunt!" Dynamm groaned.

"Textbook RPG filler. _Help me_ , hero, my _x_ is stolen by _y_. Can you get _x_ for me? I would be _sooo_ grateful." Kunimittz said in a falsetto voice.

"Look, this fetch quest is much harder than you think," Kirito responded to the complaints. "Now the old lady said it was north from her bakery. And this is north." Kirito pointed out an old cabin. Two NPC bandits in leather armor were sitting in front of the door.

"Right, let's get them." Klein went forward, but Kirito stopped him.

"Before we do this, I want you to promise me, that you will do exactly what I ask you."

"You're the boss." Dale responded.

"Alright then. I picked this quest because none of you know how to use Sword Skills, except Klein. The enemies are easy; level 1. Practice on them. Also, I want the cream jar." Kirito admitted on that last part.

"Really?"

"The food gets really boring in this floor," Kirito remarked. Klein raised his eyebrows on the rare emotional response. "Now go."

Dale charged, followed by the rest of the group, while Kirito and Klein watched on. They didn't really follow any formation, and glowing weapons were a rare, but increasingly common sight. The two bandits were disintegrated fairly quickly.

"Yes!" Dale yelled, flicking a thumbs up before opening the door. He was pushed aside when the door launched out.

"What?"

Dale stood up. The wooden door landed a few feet behind. A tall shirtless bandit walked out, hefting a greatsword.

[Lvl. 2 Bandit Chieftain]

"Oh, crap, that wasn't in the beta!" Kirito swore while taking Klein and running. "Get back!" The group stepped back, and Dale faced the miniboss. The Cheiftain roared, and clashed with Dale's greatsword, almost making him lose his footing.

"Dale, switch!" Kirito impulsively commanded.

The man didn't know what he exactly meant by that, but followed his instincts. He stepped back, while Kirito came in with a barrage of attacks and staggered the miniboss.

"Switch!" Dale activated a Sword Skill and cut right through the boss, the body disappearing in tiny pixels. The easy feat of defeating a miniboss confused Issin.

"Wait, why was the boss not doing anything?"

"The AI's confused who to attack, if we keep switching and attacking." Kirito explained. "That's what we would do to a powerful single enemy, but you have to hit it hard enough to start it."

"Hey, Dale!" Klein called from inside the cabin. "There's a greatsword from the loot." The man ran up and beheld it. The group followed.

The greatsword had a normal appearance, but it was more polished, and an emerald was in the crosspiece.

[Chieftain's Pride]

"I got the jar! Come on!" Kirito went outside.

"I'm gonna get one of those things someday," Harry Two grinned.

"We'll all get cool loot." Klein assured them. "Now come on, Kirito's waiting."

They went out of the old, rickety cabin, not looking back.

* * *

_One week later..._

The girl in the inn again considered her options for the billionth time. For the past week she was alone in the room, draining her funds paying the inn.

She can stay wrapped up in blankets, like the past week, crying about her troubles.

Or, do something about it. Go down fighting.

She let go of the blankets she tightly grasped, and stood up.

This was it! She stared at the door, determined to make it out alive. Crying never helps. She took the first step.

The room door was rimmed with light from the outside.

Second step.

She hardened, staving off any fear whatsoever.

Her hand reached for the doorknob, and twisted it. The orange lantern light bathed her, almost freeing her.

Asuna slammed the door closed.

 


	2. The First Floor Boss

Kirito examined the Anneal Blade, he had worked so hard for the past month. The quest required a rare drop from a monster, needing excessive grinding. Then he passed it to Dynamm.

"Here,"

"Holy crap, _look_ at the damage rating!"

"You're welcome." Dynamm immediately reddened because of his brashness.

"Sorry."

"Anyway, glad we're powered up," Klein announced. All the members had a weapon found in a chest, or earned in quests. "But there's a meeting for frontline players in two hours."

"You guys should gather resources, I'm going to the dungeon." Kirito said, leaving the group. Klein ran up to him.

"Why?"

"There's this girl who took _five_ rapiers and stayed there grinding, until the last one was in half durability. She probably has map info."

"Alright," Klein shrugged. "Be careful,"

* * *

Kirito walked around the Labyrinth. The name suited the place well; it was filled with twists and turns, and dead ends. Kirito came around the corner. And there she was. A red-hooded figure battled a Ruin Kobold Sentinel, thrusting at it, even if it was clear it was going to die.

"Wait! Don't overkill it. You'll get exhausted!"

"Why do you care? I might die here anyway…" She looked at Kirito, and fainted.

"Oh, geez!" Kirito ran and picked her up, straight out of the Labyrinth. Kirito shuffled forward, carrying her arm around his neck.

* * *

The girl woke up. The sun rose to the center of the sky. She looked at Kirito.

"Did you bring me here?"

"Yeah, you fainted." She was actually a little touched. But she hardened.

"How long?"

"An hour."

"Why?"

"Your map data." Kirito said bluntly.

"Oh, right." A prompt appeared in front of Kirito, notifying him of the map data given.

"Thanks. There's a meeting for high level players in an hour. You should come." She nodded.

"Oh, and soloing's hard. You should join a group you trust."

* * *

"Hello! Welcome to the meeting, I'm Diavel." A blue haired, heavily armoured man spoke to the group at the seats of the town centre of Tolbana.

"Now, we found the Floor One boss room." Kirito gasped a little, but, truth be told, he was a little excited. First Floor boss leads to the second. All the way to the top. To _freedom._

"All of you, form into groups." Obviously, Klein's friends were accounted for. He and Klein are partnered up together. Klein chuckled, then asked him.

"Maybe we should have more?" Kirito nodded in agreement.

He looked right.

Then left.

A lone girl, in a dark red hooded cloak, that he met in the dungeons . Kirito scooted over.

"Do you want to party up?" She looked up, and turned her head slightly to her right. A man in a red headband is sitting next to him, looking at Kirito expectantly.

"Don't you already have one?"

"Oh _him_?" Kirito said bluntly. Klein felt a little insulted, but quickly shrugged it off.

"Yeah, we're partnered up, but we don't want to leave anyone behind." Klein jumped in. The girl considered it for a moment, looking at their party invite.

"Alright." Kirito and Klein looked at the party members health.

Asuna.

" _Hey_!" A spiky haired man with light orange brownish hair started to run down the steps, encountering Diavel.

"In the past month, one-fifth of the players died, because of beta-testers hoarding their knowledge!" "

"What do you mean?" Diavel questioned. He ignored him.

"I say that they should give us their equipment for compensation!" A large, dark-tanned man started to walk towards him, a large war hammer on his back.

"That's not true." He started to take out a brown book.

"This is knowledge on Floor One, and can be acquired free on any market. It's written by beta testers." People started taking out the manual. Kirito nodded along. He gave the group copies.

"Everyone, quiet down." Diavel started to take charge.

"The book says that the boss is called Illfang the Kobold Lord, and he spawns Ruin Kobold Sentinels. On the last bar of HP, he switches fighting styles and uses a Talwar." Klein asked Kirito.

"What's a 'Talwar'?"

"Anyway, we meet at the dungeon at noon."

"Hey, guys! I found a spot!" Dynamm shouted. One half sat at a bench, while the other sat on the concrete.

"Kirito! The cream!" He quickly materialized it, and passed it around. Dinner began. Klein started the dinner chat.

"Guys, what's a talwar?" Asuna looked at them once, and decided to go somewhere else. The jar passed to Kirito. He looked at Asuna. He quickly joined her, bringing the jar.

"Kunimittz, aren't you at college?" Klein inquired. Kunimittz looked at him blandly.

"Yes, but I'm not studying for a Master's degree in _trivia_." Klein looked saddened.

"A talwar is…" The group burst into laughter. Kirito sat right next to her. She scooted two feet away from him.

"You know, you should try this." Kirito gave her the jar.

"It's a single edged, curved bladed sword."

"Like a Katana?" Klein asked.

"No, _not_ like a Katana. It's more curved near the tip."

Asuna tasted the cream. Admittedly, it was delicious.

"You know, I can teach you how to get it." Kirito offered. Asuna shook her head.

"I didn't come here to eat good food. I came here to be myself, and not sit and wait on the first town. If I get killed, it would be by trying to escape."

"You won't die. Don't die tomorrow." He looked back to the group. Somehow, the conversation turned from talwars to bananas.

* * *

Klein looked at the doors to the boss room, heart beating in a fast rate.

"You nervous?" Kirito looked at him.

"Ready as I'll ever be." A thought popped up in his mind.

"Kirito, how did the beta testers perform against Illfang?"

"You _don't_ want to know."

Kirito's a beta tester? Asuna thought.

"You know, I can't believe we're fighting something that lords over things named _Kobolds."_ Kunimittz said dryly. Harry Two nodded.

"You guys, the doors opening!" Issin, appointed leader of Group F, due to being the smartest, warned them.

Then, there it was. A brightly coloured room, with a dark enemy in it.

Illfang the Kobold Lord. A incredibly tall, muscular monster, with a helmet, and red glowing eyes. It wielded a gigantic ace and shield, and three of it's sentinels, on the defence.

"Group A and B, lead!" Diavel called out. The groups were among the first to clash with the menace. Kirito, Asuna, and Klein were on Group E's heels, taking care of the boss's minions.

One was heading towards Kirito. Kirito prepared to slash, until Asuna thrust at it, knocking it a few feet away. Kirito, prepared to switch and attack, slashing it, giving it no chance to retaliate. They continued the pattern, with Klein acting as an in-between, attacking in between Asuna and Kirito. Soon, the boss is in the final bar of HP. All sentinels decimated. A moment of triumph.

"Everyone get back!" Diavel called, and slowly advanced on the boss, shield ready to block a talwar.

Except…

It wasn't a talwar. It was a nodachi, a weapon much longer than a talwar. Illfang grasped the nodachi, and leapt on the pillars, killing Diavel almost instantly. He was knocked aside. Kirito, Asuna, and Klein ran towards him. Oh Crap.

"Here!" Kirito took out a ruby tipped vial.

"No."

"Why won't you?!" Klein exclaimed.

"I was greedy." He said simply.

"You wanted the last attack bonus. Getting a rare drop. You're-"

"A beta tester." Diavel finished for him.

"Kirito, I know you are one too. Defeat the boss." Diavel evaporated into green polygons.

"Asuna!" Kirito ran, with Asuna behind, using the same strategy to defeat the Ruin Kobold Sentinels.

"Switch!" Asuna ran forward, and deftly dodged a blow, ripping her cloak in the process.

"Switch!" Kirito dashed, and hacked away. Unfortunately, he got counterattacked, slamming into Asuna.

Klein ran towards the stunned group, and shook Agil.

"Come on! Let's finish this!" Klein screamed. Agil ran forward, blocking Illfang's blow, aimed at them both.

"Get back! We'll hold them off!" Kirito and Asuna did exactly that.

Klein ran past him, his Silver-Etched Wakizashi glowing yellow, and he jumped up, and dashed through Illfang's head. They both looked at the ongoing battle in front of them.

Asuna broke off a health crystal, and fully regenerated her health.

But those were incredibly expensive, Kirito thought. Asuna ran forward and reentered the battle. Kirito quickly drank another potion, and caught up with Asuna. The boss's health bar went into the red. All the groups converge, and Kirito stuns the enemy. The groups slashed away on Illfang. The bar had only a sliver of health left.

Kirito ran forward, advancing on the predator-turned-prey, and activated a Sword Skill. He leaped a dozen feet up, and cut the monster across, killing it.

The monster let out one final roar, before disintegrating. The fight was over.

Absolute silence.

Congratulations! Last Attack Bonus, Receive 'Coat of Midnight'? Kirito promptly accepted. Everyone erupted to rousing cheers.

The first floor is cleared!

"Wait a minute! Diavel died! I bet he held back info! He knew that the boss had different weapons!" The crowd turned against him in a instant.

Kirito froze. The spiky haired man started to enrage the crowd, turning their cheers into insults.

His group sprang into action. Klein punched him into the ground.

"You shut up! He defeated the boss! Diavel was stupid to approach the boss alone in the first place!" Klein picked him up by the rim of his clothes.

"Stop blaming beta testers; they're not around to spoon feed you through this game." Klein pushed him back several feet, his arms glowing yellow.

Kirito stared at Klein, his behavior completely changed. Klein walked up to him, and grinned.

"So, what did you earn?" The crowd was silent, confused at which side to pick. Then, one group decide to walk towards Floor Two's entrance, intent on exploring the land. Some congratulated Kirito personally, others just remain neutral.

"Kirito? What did you earn?" Klein asked more intensely.

"Oh, uh, 'Coat of Midnight'." Kirito donned it. The black jacket materialized on him.

"Nice! That should _last_ some levels!"

The group, again, advanced forward with high self esteem, entering Floor Two. Kirito followed them.

"Kirito, wait." Asuna called out. Kirito turned around. Asuna seemed a little nervous, for some reason.

"You said, back at the labyrinth, that I should join a group I trust,"

"So?" He was unsure of where this was leading.

"So, can I join yours?"

 


	3. Guild

3rd floor…

It was their daily meeting, again. The third floor labyrinth was almost finished.

"And, we need more potions and crystals, so we'll restock." Kirito shoved the notes at his pocket, and looked at the group.

"Any questions?"

"Kirito, when are we forming guilds? We're almost done this floor!"

"Yeah, I guess it's time. I don't see the advantages, though."

"Besides _feeling accomplished?_ " Kirito rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Ahem, hello, barkeep! My friends and I need some advice!" Kirito said in a jovial voice, speaking the code words for the quest. Asuna was a little weirded out. The innkeeper NPC, however, didn't notice.

"Oh! Okay! If you want to form a guild, you should go to the Guild Clerk at Ardrany!" Kirito turned straight to the door.

Klein and his friends were talking. About real life. Asuna bowed her head even lower from that fact.

"Okay, so there was this one time in college…" Kunimittz regaled the group with his misadventures to get an Chemical Engineering Degree.

Asuna walked faster, passing Kirito. Kirito shrugged. Best leaving this untouched. Klein however, thought differently.

"Whoa, wait!" He departed from his group, missing the tall tale.

"What's wrong?" Asuna jumped.

"What is it?" He asked again.

"You're talking about real life."

"And?"

"It's a sore spot, _okay_!" She burst.

"Then, everything exploded!" The group behind him burst open.

"Hmm. Let me tell you something." Asuna looked at him.

"Did you know what was the first quest we did together?" Klein asked. Asuna shrugged. Probably Anneal Blade or something.

"A fetch quest for some cream." Asuna was… genuinely surprised. First thing she did was grind at the forest.

"Yeah. Dynamm-" Klein recognized the confused looks.

"The guy with the moustache," She nodded, taking a glance back. The twins seem to be telling the story.

"He asked him,'What are you thinking?!' and Kirito said, 'I think the food here is a little bland,'" Kirito smiled, a warm feeling emanating from the pit of the stomach.

"But, I have to admit, Kirito should set some priorities," Asuna chuckled. Kirito's feeling was replaced with a sarcastic eye roll.

"We're here!" Kirito shouted towards the group. Ardrany. The capital of the 3rd floor, Rolling Hills. It was on top of a large hill. The third floor is much more medieval like than the rest. It also introduced more types of weapons than any other floor, and of course; introduced the guild. The capital was walled off, with stone walls twenty feet high, and a castle laying in the back of the city, with a tower in the centre, rose up to the sky. There were square guards towers in each corner of the city, and a most around it. A drawbridge was down, but in a event of a enemy pursuing a player trying to enter, it would lift up. Very original way of keeping out monsters, better than invisible shield.

The entrance gave way to a large marble plaza, with a fountain in the centre. Shops circled around it, and players mingled about.

"Guild Clerk should be in that castle. You guys,"He pointed at the larger party. " Refill on goods, and remember-"

"No health crystals, trades with unknown people, or purchases more than five-hundred Cor." They droned.

"Especially the trades. You know what happened with Dynamm." Said person bowed his head in frustration. He got an offer once to sell Anneal Blade for sixteen thousand Cor. He accepted, but never got the money. He fell into a ludicrous deal in the Internet.

"No health crystals?" Asuna was taken aback by the ban, due to health crystals being one third her inventory.

"They're too _expensive_!"

"But they regenerate health really fast! Better than potions!"

"Geez, both are good, alright!" Klein went in between them. They both stopped talking.

"Potions are cheaper, though." He added.

"Hah!" Kirito fist-pumped.

"Oh, shut up." Asuna stiffened. They reached the castle. A long, grand hallway presented himself, with two wings, filled with NPC craftsmen at work. A heavy, red curtain blocked the throne. Apparently, the king is dead , and there's a quest line on tracking down his son. Turns out, the son dies, preventing a great evil. You only get a nice suit of armor as a reward. The quest repeats a lot, dealing with another son, but it ends the same; suit of armor. The twins actually have a set. Each.

The Guild Clerk stood around, in the right wing, beside a ledger.

"Hello, we would like to become a guild, please!"

"Certainly." A popup appeared. [Function 'Create Guild' Added to all Party Members.] It took less than a second for Klein to react.

[Create Guild with party members?]

[Yes.]

"Good luck passing the test." The clerk said.

They instantly teleported to a cave, with no visible exit. Animals started to spawn, forming in a mere breath, their names beginning with [Dark]. About a few levels higher. The three quickly gathered around the centre.

"What?!" Kirito looked around wildly. This wasn't in the beta! He should've asked for advice from other players. Kirito mentally kicked himself. They were soon separated by the beasts isolating each one. Kirito's health fell to half. He drank a potion. His last one.

"Oh, God!" Kirito heard Klein yell. His health is about a third. The two steadily lost health. Only Asuna stayed healthy, with her hoard of crystals. Asuna then noticed their troubles.

"Klein!" She threw a crystal, and threw one to Kirito as well. Soon, the monsters stopped spawning.

"Oh, _crap_ , that was intense!" Klein yelled out, Kirito nodding, panting. Asuna just sat, counting her health crystals.

"Half of my stash is gone. How would we get out?"

"We ran out of teleport crystals."

"Even if we didn't, I doubt the system would let us. The Guild Clerk said it was a test." Kirito fiddled with the controls.

"…Wait. Klein, go to the Guild screen. Finish the job. We have to enter the guild name." Sure enough, there was a text bar, and a floating keyboard.

"Alright then. Issin suggested a name. Fūrin Kazan."

"What's that?"

"It's a strategy by this old feudal lord. Apparently it quotes The Art of War. 'as swift as wind, as silent as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as mountain."

"Can't be more original than that," Kirito commented. Klein entered the name, and as soon as he pushed 'Enter', they teleported out.

Kunimittz went to the castle, with the rest of the group. He was rather surprised to see Kirito's group walk out, exhausted.

"What did _you_ guys do?" He backed away from their stares.


	4. Moonlit Black Cats

Kirito walked along the 21st Floor Labyrinth, due to rumours of a mini boss nearby. Only Klein was with him, after all of them agreeing to split up, to cover more space.

They both stopped.

It seems a group already beat them to it. Five people, all males except for one female, glancing nervously at the creature, a black, demonic-looking, lion. A man, with a mace and shield, took heavy damage, his health in the red zone. The others were a fair distance away from him.

"Klein!" The sword leaped into his hand, but Klein was already meters ahead.

"On it!" He charged with his katana, glowing yellow.

* * *

"Cheers!" All of them raised their cups, in honour of Kirito and Klein.

"Thanks!" Klein grinned in response.

"…cheers" Kirito muttered.

"Thanks for saving our lives, back there. Tetsuo, our mace user, only has the health to become a forward tank. We tried getting Sachi forward, but the girl really doesn't want to." Keita again smiled at the two.

"Don't mention it!"

"What do you mean?" Kirito asked, eyeing their equipment. No unique items, and everything is bought.

"Well, Sachi isn't a high enough level, and gets afraid sometimes." The girl in question stared at the ground.

"By the way, what are you're levels?" Keita asked.

"40." Klein responded quickly.

"Uh, 40, too. But we aren't really doing anything." He answered as well.

"You have your own guild, right?" Keita looked at their four-square guild icon.

"Yes,"

"Want to merge? Your level is about twice of ours, so can you train us until we can go to the front lines?"

Keita extended a hand at Kirito. The teenager looked at Klein. He shrugged.

"Alright." They shook hands. The Black Cats cheered in excitement.

"The guild of yours, is it just you two?"

"Um…"

The rest of Fūrin Kazan came in the tavern. Asuna scanned for Kirito and Klein.

"Hey, Kirito, we didn't find the mini boss you mentioned, but we found a different one, and got a new hammer for Harry One…"

"Who are _you_ guys?" Kunimittz asked one of the Black Cats, a guy in purple, while Asuna gave Kirito a summary of their dungeon dive. He jumped in surprise.

"Oh, are you with Kirito?"

"Well, yes,"

"Oh, then, I'm Tetsuo!" They shook hands, but Kunimittz was still really confused.

"Oh, alright. But what's happening?"

"Kirito agreed to merge guilds with you guys!" Kunimittz pretended to walk away understanding. Asuna stopped blabbing at Kirito after hearing that. And only thought one word.

_Seriously?_

"Okay, announcements." Kirito looked to the entirety of the merged guild, in the cramped inn room. Half of them were confused to specifics.

"Me and Keita decided to merge guilds, so we can train together. So, pick partners." The Harry twins stuck with Tetsuo, a mace user like them. Klein picked Sasamaru, a damage dealer. And Asuna picked Sachi, ironically because, in the beginning, she was completely opposite of her. Kirito shrugged out his plans to train Sachi herself.

Asuna's pretty capable, she can handle it.

* * *

_Floor 20, Sunlit Forest_

The giant praying mantis shreiked at Sachi, unconsciously pushing her back.

"Sachi, pull back!" Asuna ran, and stabbed with Linear. Tetsuo rushed, and slammed the purple glowing mace on the back of it's neck. The mantis disintegrated. Keita smiled to the group. Lunchtime.

They found a particularly good spot, amid some ruins on the Floor.

"Hey, Kirito, your guild participates in the a Assault Team, right?" Keita asked, looking at a paper, highlighting the team's progress to Floor 28.

"Yeah, why?" he responded.

"What's it like?" Keita asked again, wistfully staring at the clouds.

"Well, it sucks. Everyone's all 'I want to take the Last Attack Bonus, so stay out of my way'." Klein jumped beside Keita, imitating the Divine Dragon Alliance.

"It's not like that. Everyone works together." Kirito told Keita, trying to convince him.

"Remember Floor 15?" Klein gave him a _you-know-I'm-right_ look.

"Yes." He muttered. Keita chuckled.

* * *

"We're going to do some late night training with ourselves." Klein told Kirito and Asuna, backed by his friends.

"Go ahead. We have to catch up soon to the front lines." Kirito walked to the inn, but Asuna walked towards a town in the distance.

"Wait, Asuna. You're certainly not going to sleep. What are you going to do?"

"Just taking a walk." She noticed Klein's skeptical look.

"All the way _there_?"

" _I'll be fine_." She walked to the town, bored.

_Hmm. Perhaps I should do some levelling…_ A chime cut through her thoughts.

_New message?_

_Asuna, Sachi ran away somewhere, and you seem to be around. Try to find her, please. We'll help._

_–Keita_

She opened her menu, and activated her Locating Skill. She grudgingly admitted secretly, that Kirito was right- it would come useful someday. Her vision tinted green, and footsteps were highlighted. She quickly followed.

Sachi was revealed to be under a bridge. Asuna approached carefully, and sat down a generous distance away from her.

"Asuna?"

"Yes?" She was unsure where this was going.

"Let's leave." Sachi whispered, just loud enough for Asuna to hear.

_"Leave?!"_ She exclaimed immediately.

"Yes, leave." Asuna stared at her.

"Leave…the game?" Sachi looked at her.

"A… _suicide_?" Asuna was silent after saying that.

"Maybe."

"Never mind. Sorry, I lied. I can't bring myself to commit it."

"Sachi, I'm sorry for saying this…" Asuna paused for a moment, not sure whether to continue.

_I might hurt her feelings, one side said._

_But if I don't speak out, she might actually commit suicide. The other side reasoned._

"Look, being… like this won't save your friends!"

"But I don't know why we're trapped in the first place! It doesn't make sense!"

"We're trapped here. Whether we like it or not. The only way out, is to finish this game!" Sachi remained quiet. Asuna took the chance, and scooted closer.

"We're a team right?" Sachi nodded. "And we watch each other's backs." Asuna stood up, holding out a hand.

"I'll watch yours. But only if you return the favour." Sachi looked at the hand briefly. She has a point… Sachi grabbed Asuna's hand, and she pulled her up.

"Come on, let's go back."

* * *

About Two months later…

Sachi stabbed the demonic lion in the neck, deftly dodging the swipes. Tetsuo switched with her, and bashed the cat's head, knocking it ten feet away. The lion exploded into a million pixels.

[XP: 1500, Col: 750, Items Obtained: Lion Claw] The rest cheered, over the easy triumph of a miniboss that once troubled them.

"We have more than enough money for our house, Keita!" Sachi exclaimed. Asuna waved at her.

"She's nice." Asuna muttered, looking at the Black Cats Sachi has grown under her tutelage.

"Maybe _we_ should buy a house!" Klein piped in. Kirito looked at him like he just asked for money.

"Um, no. Too expensive." Dale overheard, and frowned. Keita approached Kirito.

"Hey, I'm going to buy that house; they're way too energetic." He was soon enveloped in a white light, and teleported to the Starting City.

"Do you think we can go to the front lines?" Tetsuo asked, confident their level is high enough.

"Uh…" Kirito looked at Klein and Asuna. He shook his head. Asuna, however, nodded, pointing to Sachi.

"Yes." Klein pulled Kirito in and commenced a impromptu meeting.

"Kirito, we've actually have fallen behind Clearers. Don't give them false hope!"

"Kirito, don't listen to Klein. Sachi's going to fall apart when she realizes that all that work is for nothing."

"Alright, Klein, sorry, I already said yes. Maybe we can divert them-"

"Hey, guys! I found a hidden room!" Kirito pulled away, running at the room.

"Guys, wait!"

The door started to close, and Kirito and Asuna made it in. Klein slammed on the door.

"Kirito, I'll get the rest of the guild!" Klein screamed into the door, and ran off.

Otherwise, it was the Moonlit Black Cats, and their respective partners, except Klein.

Kirito looked at the Mineral Elementals and Dark Dwarf Miners, materializing after Ducker opened the chest.

They were surrounded.

Each enemy was level 35. The Black Cats just hit 30. The mob of enemies soon surrounded each member.

"Asuna!" Kirito screamed, pointing at Sachi. Asuna didn't react; she was already making her way through to her.

"Sachi!" Asuna ran towards her. The girl in question defeated many monsters, but strayed too far from the group. Health was rapidly decreasing. Asuna took out a health crystal, and sprinted, ignoring damage.

It was too late. Sachi whispered something, as she was attacked by numerous enemies.

Asuna was in the right distance to see her due, but not to hear what she has to say. Hurriedly, she broke the crystal in two, but it replenished her own health, the range too short.

Sachi disintegrated.

Asuna paused, as for what to do next. That patience was replaced by passionate rage, as she obliterated everything in sight.

Damn the monsters.

Damn this game!

Damn Kayaba Akihiko straight to hell!

Soon, the room was empty. Kirito looked visibly distraught, and deeply saddened, as the rest of the guild. The door opened, revealing the rest of the guild, weapons ready, with panicked expressions.

The day passed.

* * *

"Sachi was nice, kind. Although she was hesitant to fight, she had a drive within her." Asuna spoke, half sobbing, while Keita erected a tombstone in the 11th floor. The rest of the guild nodded in agreement.

"So, what now? Do you still want to be with us?" Kirito asked Keita.

"We have been talking, and we feel we can train by ourselves from here."

"Alright. I see." Kirito nodded.

"Well, it was good working with you." Kirito held out a hand.

"Yeah, I guess." They shook hands, and the two guilds departed, for the last time. Then, Kirito heard someone teleport away.

"Who was that?" Kirito turned around.

"It was Asuna," Klein stopped Kirito from taking out his teleport crystal.

"Leave her alone, for at least an hour." Klein convinced him.

* * *

She hasn't been seen for four months. She left Kirito's party.

Issin looked at Argo suspiciously. The hooded figure stared back.

"Are you _sure_ you don't know where Asuna is?"

"No." Issin looked at how she reacted.

_Deep, slow breaths._

_Finger fumbling._

_Feet rubbing together, despite being indoors._

"You know where she is. Just tell me. I can read you easily.

Kirito and Klein looked at the interrogation.

"Argo, come on! I rescued you!" Kirito whined.

"I did not see her!" Klein decided to try to convince her.

"Argo, look. I never met you, yet I'm pretty convinced you know where she is. So tell me." Klein moved closer, looking at her eyes .

"Dead, or alive?"

"Alive." She admitted.

"Is she going to do something dangerous?" Argo nodded.

"Aw, _crap_." Issin muttered.

"What is it?"

"The revival item. She going after it, and you bet she been followed."

* * *

Floor 35 Field Dungeon: Forest of Wandering

Asuna walked across the snowy carpet, heading towards a gigantic fir tree.

"Asuna!" Kirito ran, trying to catch up, Fūrin Kazan behind his back. The Forest of Wandering prohibited teleporting, so the guild had to catch up on foot.

"Wait!" Asuna kept walking. Kirito suddenly noticed a shape in the trees.

"Ambush!" The Divine Dragon Alliance leaped from the trees, blocking the giant tree. Asuna unsheathed her rapier, a silver blade, with diamonds etched around the hilt.

"The item's mine." Kirito finally arrived beside her.

"Asuna , are you seriously trying to attempt this alone?" She ignored him.

"Get out if the way."

"Uh…" The DDA's leader pretended to consider.

"No." A duel prompt appeared in front of him immediately. He analyzed the girl. She looked dead serious.

The duel started. The leader charged, and swung a overhead cut at Asuna. She slashed through his sword nonchalantly, and disintegrated it. She then stabbed the leader, causing him to stumble back several feet. Asuna won.

"I defeated your leader. What makes you think that I couldn't defeat you?" Asuna shouted towards them. They started to walk towards the exit teleport.

"Asuna." Kirito started to grab her shoulder.

"Shut up, Kirito."

"Asuna!" She stopped.

"What?" She said condescendingly.

"Why are you doing this? Sachi has been dead for _months!_ "

"Kirito has a point," Klein agreed. "her brain's been fried."

"You don't know that. Their's no proof that she's dead."

"She's not going back!" A group of men started to appear far away, running towards them. The Divine Dragon Alliance's vanguard. Stronger than the rest of the DDA. Asuna started running to the tree.

"Asuna! Klein, hold them off!"

"Got it!" Kirito ran off in Asuna's direction. Once he reached her, two streaks of light appeared in the sky, accompanied with bells. Then, a red-robed monster jumped down, a twisted, maniacal version of Santa Claus. It towered before them, revealing a battleaxe.

Nicholas the Renegade.

A party request appeared before Asuna. She quickly pressed [Yes], and dodged it.

[Kirito- Level 46]

[Asuna- Level 53]

What?, Kirito thought. But there wasn't enough time to gander.

The final attacks formed a cross, as the boss froze, and exploded in pixels. A screen appeared, and a stone materialized in her hands.

"What does it say?" Kirito peered over Asuna. She smiled in elation.

But that didn't last long.

"Only ten seconds after…" She read the last part silently. Tears started to form. She knelt down, sobbing.

"Asuna…"Kirito bent down, and hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"…she was my responsibility," Asuna started to cry on his shoulder.

"I know."

"I taught her to be aggressive." Asuna started to calm down a little, but wouldn't let go.

"Relax. You tried your best"

_Well, I did try._

"…you think so?"

"Yeah." Asuna detached, and stood up, and wiped her face.

"Come on. The guild's waiting." Kirito started to turn around. Asuna hugged him again, startling him.

"Thanks for cheering me up."

"That's what friends are for,"

 


	5. Leading the Attack

_Floor 11: Taft_

Asuna stood over Sachi's tombstone. She hasn't quite got over it, but, Kirito thought, at least she calmed down. She stayed silent, but there is no doubt that Asuna is projecting her thoughts to the grave. Klein looked to the guild, fiddling with grass.

"You guys go train. We're close to beating the halfway boss." The guild, what they refer to as Party Two, as Kirito, Asuna, and Klein were Party One, departed.

"So, what should we do?" Issin spoke. Kunimittz glanced at the path before them. A giant bear started to go in front of them.

"Aw, _crap_. Dale, you go."

"Why is it always me?" The stocky man complained.

"Harry Two, you go." The second twin grinned, and started to charge, mace glowing. The bear roared, and got his face smashed in.

[Exp: 100 Col: 150 Items: None]

"The enemies here suck." Harry Two whined.

"Yeah, let's go to another area, and threaten our lives more!" Kunimittz said in a sarcastic voice.

"Don't we _usually_ do that?" Dynamm said bluntly.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go somewhere harder." They teleported to a higher floor.

* * *

_Floor 50_

"The frontline's starting to gather up." Issin noticed a Knights of the Blood Oath sub-leader.

"Do you think we have a reputation?" Dale asked them. The group answered, the voices resulting in a buzz of noise.

"It's not like we have fans or anything. Nicknames, I guess?"

"But we did do stuff. Like, Klein did that clashing thing with the 27th boss."

"Yeah, he countered the boss' ten hit combo, and killed it. He got his katana from that, right?"

"Guys, bottom line." Dale clarified. The whole group looked at him.

"No."

"Even if we do have one, no one recognized it."

"Yeah, you're right. KoB gets the credit." They walked out of town. The floor was almost half the size of Floor One, but it was still big nonetheless.

A story arc revolved on demonic type monsters populating this floor. So, lots of unique demonic type items were accrued on this one.

"Hopefully we'll get a cool thing in this floor," Their conversation was cut off by a ghost.

[Dark Shade Lvl. 60] The ghost was black, almost a gas, and was only distinguishable by it's glowing red eyes, and a black sword, the edge lined with blood.

"Level 60?"

"Not going to matter," Issin charged, and his unique spear, one with two prongs, captured what appeared to be it's neck.

"Dale!" He managed to cry out, until he was tossed. He hit the dirt, health in 75%. The Greatsword wielder activated his weapon, and slashed, and kept slashing, sword skills chaining into each other. The ghost disintegrated.

[Two-Handed Sword level increased to 980]

"Dale, that was cool." Dynamm admitted. Then he spotted another shade.

"But this one's going to be _better_!" Dynamm charged the apparition, and blocked it's attack. He commenced [Vorpal Strike]. He lunged at it, sword glowing yellow. The thrust quickly turned into a barrage of strikes, all at the same point, delivering massive damage. The shade disintegrated.

"That could only be achieved with a skill level of 950."

"My turn!" Kunimittz yelled, getting in the unannounced competition. He eyed another identical shade, and activated [Eagle Claw]. The spear glowed green, and he unleashed multiple thrusts, going so fast, the area between him and the shade was a blur. The shade staggered back, and the skill ended with one final stab. There were a lot more shades in front of them.

The game began.

* * *

Klein looked around the gloomy forest, trying to find them. Party Two has been gone for three hours. He heard a sword skill activate, and he ran towards the sound.

He found the the twins battling out a shade, projecting their excitement onto the enemy. It finally disintegrated. The rest were sitting down against trees, panting.

"What did _you_ guys do?"

"Killed shades." Klein looked around the forest.

"How many?"

"Like, ten." Issin replied.

"Each." Harry One added.

"Dynamm won." The guy in question raised his tired arms in victory."

"But his sword broke."

" _Shut up,_ Kunimittz, I have a new one, remember, I got it from the elevent-no, twelfth, one."

"Come on, guys. We need to clear this floor."

"When?"

" _Now_." The group groaned in unison.

"What happened here?" Asuna caught up with Klein.

"They trained, with _your_ mentality."

* * *

The guild walked through the dungeon. Party Two just struggled along behind them. Issin, however, caught up.

"Kirito, I was thinking that we should separate the second party,"

"For what?"

"Like, separating the offensive from the defensive, so it'll be easier to manage."

"Alright," Kirito nodded. "Hey!" He turned around, facing the fatigued warriors.

"Dynamm, separate and form a party with Issin."

"Kirito, we're here." Asuna shook him. He turned around, and was face to face with Heathcliff.

"Hello, Fūrin Kazan." Heathcliff turned around and addressed everyone.

"The Knights of the Blood Oath will be the vanguard. Divine Dragon Alliance will attack from the sides. The rest will provide support." Everyone obeyed his command. Heathcliff and his guild held off the 25th boss, replacing the Aincrad Liberation Army. And that boss was particularly hard, eliminating 1/3 of the Assault Team.

Heathcliff then pushed the door open.

"Attack!" Everyone charged into the dark room. Some braziers lit, with pure red fire, filling the room with a eerie red glow,

The boss revealed itself.

A giant warrior, 80 feet tall, and entirely gaseous. It's silver-etched black armor is supported by the smoke, like an exoskeleton. Red eyes were the only distinction of the smoke, and it carried a giant spiked war hammer, with a black shaft, and a head with one side blunt, the other pointed.

[Dark Shade Knight]

The KoB advanced, starting to block the attacks. The knight retaliated with a giant smash, causing disarray among the ranks. The DDA started to attack on it's sides. Kirito ran towards the front.

"Party 2, go to the KoB!" Dale started to run past the red knights, and started to parry the hammer. He got smashed to the side in the second hit.

"The health crystals don't work!" One KoB warrior shouted, until he was knocked aside and disintegrated.

The battle was going poorly. One quarter of Heathcliff's guild was gone. One half was in critical health. DDA is now the main target of the demon knight's weapon. Heathcliff went forward, blocking it's attacks.

_That shield is indestructible_! Kirito thought. It seems that Heathcliff's holding it off. Kirito looked at the support guilds. Minor damage.

Close enough.

"The main guilds are weak! It's up to _us_ now!" Kirito now charged at the boss, with the support guilds behind his back.

"Party 2! Distract it, but dodge attacks! Party 3, lead the guilds in attacking the boss on it's sides! Asuna, Klein, come with me!" Kirito shouted rapidly. Dynamm started raising his sword, and went toward it's feet. Heathcliff stepped aside in surprise. Kirito ran past him, and started to jump, and attack the stomach. Party 2 dodged a hit, and the war hammer was buried under the floor.

Asuna took the chance.

She ran up the shaft of the weapon, followed by Klein, and landed multiple hits in the helmet, immediately followed by Klein, who activated [Ukifune], upper cutting it.

Dale looked at the KoB, and started to run towards them.

"Dale, what is it?" Kunimittz shouted, then leapt sideways, avoiding a smash.

"Getting support!" Dale started tossing potions at members.

"You have to help!"

Kirito couldn't keep up. All his skills are on cooldown. Kirito faced a choice.

Help allies, or,

Destroy the boss as quick as possible. Killing the boss quickly might prevent casualties, and it's already at the last bar of HP. But it would be _extremely_ hard.

_Screw it,_ he thought. Both.

"Dynamm, split the group in half, and help the guilds!" Kirito de-equipped his sword, and wore heavy knuckle-spiked gauntlets.

Time to switch to the back-up skill. Martial Arts.

Now, it's just Fūrin Kazan remaining to fight the boss.

The hammer buried into the tortured floor, for the final time.

All three dashed up the shaft.

"All at once!" Kirito yelled. Then, they jumped for the helmet, the weapons glowing.

Kirito looked behind him. The knight froze, and exploded into countless particles.

[Congratulations! Last Attack Bonus: 2 Mega Cor Obtained: Elucidator].

The guilds started to cheer.

"Fūrin Kazan!"

"The Elementals!"

"Elementals? That's new." Dynamm muttered.

"Well, our guild name are elements," Issin commented.

"Elucidator?" Klein asked.

"I don't have enough STR to wield it, actually." Kirito explained.

"What's the damage stat?" Asuna peeked at Kirito's menu.

"…700+" All three jaws dropped.

* * *

"We have two million Cor, so, we should get a house." Klein tried to convince Kirito. They were on the 51st floor's main town square, debating on what to get. The halfway floor victory was enough to cheer Asuna up, even if for a little while.

"Guys, I have a suggestion." Issin announced.

"They're calling us The Elementals, so I think that we should name our parties, like Mountain Party for the forwards."

"That's actually cool," Kirito agreed. "Go ahead, name."

"We don't actually have any Hiding-oriented members, so, Party Two will be called Mountain. Me and Dynamm, Fire. You three," Issin looked at them analytically.

"Wind."

 


	6. A New Addition

_Floor 35: Field Dungeon-Forest of Wandering_

Silica ran through the forest, chased by [Drunken Apes]. She stopped and turned around, dagger held. She avoided their attacks, constantly rolling around. Her [Feathered Little Dragon] healed her to half health. She checked her back pockets for more potions.

None whatsoever.

Distracted, the enemy slammed her towards a tree three feet away.

Dazed and confused, Silica's health bar fell to the red zone, and let go of her dagger, landing a considerable distance away. The apes were coming towards her, health bars at full capacity.

Silica looked around for her weapon, then was interrupted by an ape driving it's club towards her head.

If it wasn't interrupted by her pet.

The tiny animal crumpled under the force, and exploded into a mass of polygons. Right in front of her owner.

And left a glowing feather.

Silica faced the monsters, ready to accept her fate.

Until she heard voices, among the trees. She snatched the feather and ran towards it.

* * *

"Klein, enough with the house," Kirito groaned.

"Help!" A girl burst from the bushes, pursued by enemies.

Asuna jumped into action and quickly obliterated them. Silica, accepting the situation, teared up, cradling the feather.

"What's that?" Asuna pointed towards the feather.

"It's my…"

"You're a beast tamer?" Klein asked. He took the silent answer as yes.

"Thanks for helping me, I was stupid, and arrogant, to think I could leave here alone," Silica faced them.

"Well, it's not like we had a-mmph!" Dynamm silenced Kunimittz.

"What's the item name?" Kirito knelt beside Silica. She opened it's interface. A flood of grief entered her again.

"Wait, don't cry."

"If it's Pina's Heart, we could revive it." Kirito explained.

"At the south side of Floor 47, there's a flower that can revive them, three days after it's death."

"Three days, I'm so sorry, Pina," Silica heard a chime. [Trade] Klein started to put in items the guild got at Floor 53.

"This should be good for, what, six levels?" Klein put the trade request forward, opening another window in front of Silica.

"Wait, are you actually serious?"

"This was some loot we got, and we were going to sell it anyway," Klein still fiddled around.

"It's not like we can leave you here," Asuna patted her head.

"I'm Silica," she held a hand out to Asuna.

"Asuna." They shook hands.

* * *

_Floor 35: Mishe_

The guild walked toward the inn. Silica noticed that people around them took one look at her, then another look at the rest of the group, and walked the other way.

"What guild is this," Silica asked Klein.

"Fūrin Kazan," she stepped back.

"The Elementals?!"

"I still don't like that nickname," Dynamm muttered.

"Yeah,"

"Wait, why are you taking me in?" Silica asked again.

"…to revive your familiar?"

"After that?"

"Then, I dunno, you can either join us or not." He shrugged.

"Maybe, but you probably just want a mascot,"

"Whoa, wait! What do you mean?"

"The party I was in, just wanted me to be a symbol. 'The first Beast Tamer'." She sighed.

"Trust me, we want people opposite of that,"

"I hope so,"

Klein stopped. A group blocked their path.

"Oh, Silica, is that you?" A provocative woman bent down.

"And where's that lizard?" She looked around her shoulders

"Okay, what are you doing?" Asuna stepped between them.

"I'm just greeting her, no need to be _pushy_ ," Rosalia analyzed her.

"You don't seem to be that strong," Asuna was angered by the snobbery.

" _Want to bet?_ "

"Asuna, calm down," Kirito grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out.

"Hmph," Rosalia left. The guild started to whisper at her. She looked back, dead serious. Then continued on her way.

"What was that about?" Kirito asked.

"That was the party I left," Silica said softly.

"Now, where are we staying?" She said brightly.

* * *

_Floor 47: Flower Garden_

Silica wore the new equipment. The clothes were lighter, yet stronger.

"The entire map is covered in flowers." Kirito said to no one in particular.

"It can't possibly…" Silica looked to the horizons. The hills were coated with the colourful plants. And the enormous amount of couples. She blushed a little bit, but shrugged it off. Surely people can recognize the difference.

Asuna felt uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. She materialized her cloak and hid. Kirito noticed that, and began to ponder. He immediately reddened and strayed to the back of the group. Klein chuckled.

" _What?_ " Kirito muttered.

"Nothing." They proceeded to begin the journey. Then Silica got ambushed by some plant…thing.

" _Help!_ " Her voice cracked, as her foot is caught by a tentacle, and she was hanging above a giant mouth.

"You can handle it! You got the gear!" Klein shouted. She frowned, and tried to sever the tentacle. She soon broke free, and stabbed the plant.

"Nice work!" Klein grinned.

She got ambushed three more times. Soon, they reach the flower.

"Wait, Kirito, this is it?" Klein pointed to the flower.

"…no."

"Well, _that's_ not cryptic at all," Klein said sarcastically. Suddenly, a ghost rose from the ground. It revealed five bars of HP.

[Guardian of Memories] Silica took her dagger out from a sheath opposite of the bottom of her stomach.

"Silica, what's your level?"

"68,"

"You can take care of this by yourself!"

"What?!" Silica exclaimed, before having to dodge a ghostly sword. The group started to get ready, until Klein signalled them otherwise.

"Klein, what are you thinking?!" Asuna pulled her hood back.

"She can handle it. She said that she doesn't want to be a mascot, so," Klein gestured at Silica.

"You want her to prove herself?" Issin guessed. At that moment, the ghost died.

"Klein, why didn't you help?" Silica walked towards him.

"Well, same case as the plant monsters. Prove yourself that you don't want to be 'a symbol'."

"That was a _miniboss_ ," Silica struggled to keep her voice steady.

"And _you_ handled it. Your HP is still very high." Klein was right. Silica started to feel proud of herself.

"I guess you're right," Silica smiled. Then noticed Asuna and Kirito acting awkward.

"What's with them?"

"They have crushes with each other," Issin spoke.

"How can you tell?" Klein responded conspiratorially.

"If it's only one, the other will be acting normally, or at least, try to. Also, he or she will not keep sneaking glances." Issin explained. Klein examined Kirito's eyes. After the teenager gazed at a specific body part, Klein was _sure_.

"Dude, I seriously want to know how your head works."

* * *

They kept walking until they went over a bridge. Kirito noticed a ghost of a colour curser among the trees.

"Wait!" Kirito yelled.

"Come out!" Rosalia walked out of the trees, looking impressed.

"Excellent Searching Skill," She pretended to admire. Then continued.

"Not like it's going to help you. Hand over the flower!"

"No! I fought for it!" Silica retaliated. The woman seemed unfazed.

"Hand it over, and your gear, and no one will get hurt," Klein started to walk forward.

"I really don't want to fight right now." At that moment, Rosalia snapped her fingers. A group of orange players emerged from hiding.

"Still want to fight?" Klein looked around at the bandits.

"Sure, yeah," Rosalia was at boiling point.

"I have no problems PK-ing. There isn't any evidence to support the brain frying claim," She announced.

"Not like you will," he commented.

"Attack!"

The first bandit charged at Klein, a slender man with a blue trench coat. He swung a horizontal cut. Klein ducked, pulled out his katana, stabbed him, and kicked him a dozen feet away. He responded to another, almost topless bandit behind him, this time with a downward hack, which Klein immediately parried, sidestepped, and hacked his chest, knocking him aside. A bandit with off white attacked him, with a similar attack, and Klein broke the sword.

The guild was speechless after the show of reflexes. Kirito made a mental note to train harder in his other skill.

"Want to fight now?" Klein asked. The two members he incapacitated were at 1/10th health.

"No." Rosalia waved a hand. Her guild lowered weapons, accepting defeat.

"Right. Off you go, to prison," Klein pulled out a Corridor Crystal.

"Wait! Before you do that, we are not the enemy. You are!" Rosalia pulled out her final card.

"How? We help clear the game!"

"You never help us! You're so busy ignoring us and taking everything for yourself, leaving nothing to the rest of us!" She gestured at the guild's poor equipment. Klein stayed silent.

"This is how we survive the monsters! We can't farm animals, you take everything." Her voice cracked under pressure. Klein started to open his menu. A trade request started to appear. One Mega Cor appeared on her side.

"Klein, what-" Kirito's mouth was covered with Asuna's hand.

"Shut up, Kirito." She said softly.

"Just let him," The rest silently agreed.

"I'll give your guild one million Cor, but try to be a clearing guild," Rosalia nodded.

"You gave me a very good reason to do this. _Don't_ stab me in the back. Oh, and one thing. Why are you the leader, when you seem to be the weakest?"

"I'm the bait for targets. They need me," The two groups departed.

"I really want to join now," Silica responded to Klein.

* * *

Silica entered Issin's room for skills assessment. Pina happily resided at her head.

"Tell me your skills," Issin said calmly, sitting cross legged at the floor.

"Um," Silica sat in front of him.

"I use a dagger, have a familiar, use light armor- is that important, like weapon skills, or all?"

"All, _obviously_ ,"

"Use Light Armor, and Acrobatics."

Issin thought for five minutes. Silica sat nervously.

"…oh, yes, you can be a…"

"Be what?"

"Can you point and make that dragon sit somewhere?"

"Yes," Issin stood up.

"Silica, you don't fit in any group in the guild." Silica looked down sadly.

"No, we'll create a whole new group. Forest Party. But it's just going to be you,"

"What will I do?" Silica asked excitedly.

"Hide in the shadows, strike from the dark." Silica leaned forward in anticipation.

"An assassin."

 


	7. Breakdown

Floor 11

"Should we _really_ be in here?" Kirito asked. They roamed around the dungeon, nitpicked by grossly weak creatures.

"Yeah, we need that cloak for Silica,"

"I _really_ don't need that," Silica defended herself. "Besides, it's not like it's going to be any good."

"Your Hiding skill sucks, so we need to boost it as much as we can." Klein responded, looking at the girl's bright clothing.

"Can't we search somewhere harder?" Asuna asked.

"Well, the legendary cloak should be here somewhere," Kunimittz poked around a corner. A cloaked figure was there, attacking monsters." He looked at Asuna, and back.

_Well, that's not her._

"Hey! Did you encounter a miniboss?!" He shouted. The person jumped, and started to run quickly across the corridor.

But not after looking back briefly. Kirito saw a glimpse. And started to chase the shadow. Asuna saw that, and started to run past him, catching up. The group gave chase, until there was a dead end.

The shadow unsheathed a katana, ready to defend. Kirito couldn't see past the hood, but saw an orange color cursor. The group immediately downed a anti-paralysis effect potion, just in case.

"Kirito, do you know anything about her?" Asuna asked, recognizing Kirito's curious look. The shadow leapt at Klein, unleashing a skill with extravagant slashes. He retaliated by unleashing another one, a upward cut launching her up, making her hood catch air, and for a moment, confirmed Kirito's suspicions. The girl dashed through them, escaping, teleporting out.

"Kirito?" He just stared down the corridor.

"Why..how..I.." He stuttered. Klein squinted in confusion.

"What is it?" Klein asked.

"Ss..s..Suguha,"

* * *

"So that was your sister?!" Dynamm looked at Kirito across the inn table.

"Yeah, I don't know how. She left for kendo,"

"What about the orange cursor?"

"I..I don't know about that,"

"Alright, I guess. We'll look for her tomorrow, if you want." Klein offered.

"Thanks Klein. Let's get an inn room,"

* * *

They followed the beaten path for hours. Kirito's eyes were tinted green.

"Y'know, I feel like we're following our own steps." Harry Two muttered. His brother nodded along.

"Kirito, your sister actually teleported. There's no way you can track her," Klein said.

"Weren't you the one who offered me help?"

"Sorry, but I take that back," Klein groaned. A red haired woman appeared in front of the path, with revealing silver-plated armor. She looked at them, and her eyes widened. She raised a hand up, and pointed at them.

"Wha?" Kirito soon was in a battle with bandits. There were a dozen of them, all aiming to kill.

"Kill them!" The woman yelled. The bandits had unusually high level equipment.

"Don't use skills!" Kirito warned, trying not to kill them. However, the bandits were getting the upper hand. Dale practically blocked while moving backward, unable to break the attack pattern. Asuna went half health, followed with Klein, and Dynamm, and…

"Use them, but try not to kill!" Kirito unleashed a combo chaining basic sword skills. But they kept coming. Eventually, the group is packed in, all in the yellow zone. They faced a dilemma.

_Is it really okay to PK criminals?_ Kirito faced enormous pressure, and he had to decide now. He would've been more relaxed if they were facing monsters.

He came up with a conclusion.

_Yes._

He let out a hoarse scream as he charged into a bandit, stabbing him, pulled out, and turned around rapidly to slash him again, disintegrating him. His cursor turned orange.

Everyone stopped. The fact that one of their targets are willing to kill surprised them.

"K..Kirito?" Asuna struggled to say. Kirito shivered, and held his blade aloft.

"Leave!" Then he ran to the silver plated woman, and found out her identity.

Rosalia.

"I thought, you…" He then decided to threaten to slash her throat.

"Give me info about a black haired girl with a cloak, or _else_!" His voice cracked.

"I..I..think that she might be in another bandit group-"

"Where?!"

"Floor 25!" Kirito walked towards his guild.

"Let's go. And you," he turned to Rosalia.

"You better convert, or you're done for."

* * *

They built a campfire among the forest , surrounding it.

" What was that Kirito?" Issin asked, a rare hint of anger in his voice.

"What?"

"Why did you kill the bandit?" Asuna gave him a hard look.

"They were going to kill us!"

"Oh, so it's _okay_ to act like them?!" Asuna burst open with rage.

"Look, I just tried to protect you all!" Asuna again looked at the orange cursor.

"Kirito, you don't need to protect everyone." Klein reasoned. Kirito shut his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Teleport, Erihill." He said softly. Asuna noticed the teleport crystal in his hand, behind his back.

"Kirito, no!" Asuna tried to stop him, but he soon disappeared.

Kirito appeared in front of the Floor 25 teleport gate. NPC guards started to pursue him. He sprinted towards the boundary, shoving anybody in his way.

"Orange player!" People chanted. Kirito just kept going. Once he was out of sight, he activated his Searching skill. A group of highlighted footsteps appeared in front of him.

"Suguha, why are you here?"

"Dammit, Kirito!" Klein shouted. They went to Erihill to find him. They met with dazed players.

"Do you know which direction they went?" Harry One asked a player.

"Over there," the player pointed towards a stone path, that split up to three directions.

"Silica, try and trail the left path, and use this dagger." Asuna gave her a dagger enchanted to have a speed boost.

"You keep this?"

"Don't ask." Silica nodded, and ran off.

* * *

Kirito soon saw a group overwhelmed with monsters. Orange level. With Suguha in their ranks. He charged, and quickly decimated them. The group was about to thank them, but Kirito just shoved them back, with a face screwed in anger.

"Why did you come here! _You_ showed no interest at the game! _You_ went off for kendo practice!" Kirito yelled with such ferocity and volume. Suguha took several steps back, not wanting to face disappointment.

"I'm sorry! It's not like I knew this..this nightmare would happen!" The sibling cried a little, causing him to calm down.

"How did you get here?"

"I b..b..borrowed one of his friend's NerveGear. The friend couldn't play at the time, so I decided to give it a try after practice," She pointed to a skinny figure, who looked incredibly shocked, and raised his hands.

"I swear, I didn't-" Kirito punched him several meters backward.

"All of you, get out!" Kirito commanded at the remaining group members. The damaged slender teen started to get up and leave.

"Not you!"

"Stop it!" Suguha cried out. "It wasn't his fault!"

" **HOW?!** " Kirito exploded, the voice echoing. Klein heard this, and started to follow.

"Kirito!" The samurai started to walk towards the heated teenager.

"What happened? How did you get all this anger in you?" Kirito ignored him, and started to go towards his sister.

"Wait!"

"Don't touch me!" Klein decided to grab his shoulder anyway. Kirito turned around.

His sword glowing.

A red gash appeared right across his torso. Klein's HP went down one tenth.

"Kirito!" Another slash went towards Klein's head. He ducked, and kicked Kirito a few meters back, slamming him into a tree. Kirito's eyes became feral, and started to attack him repeatedly, and relentlessly, only following his instincts. Klein hit a specific spot on the sword, and broke it, the top shard of the blade landing. Kirito let go of his sword and tried to punch him. Klein let go of his weapon, and his hands glowed, and automatically caught the incoming fist, and threw the attacker to the ground. Klein backed away, and picked up his katana.

"Why?" He asked for the last time.

Kirito started to admit defeat.

"First, I find out my sister is here. Then, I had to protect you, because someone back stabbed us, and I murdered someone. Then I find out that my sister is related to the people that back stabbed us in the first place! Why does this happen to us?! WHY?!" Kirito started to break down, sitting, and hugging his knees, crying on them.

"Kirito, just stop." Kirito looked up.

"You stop. Just because something this bad happens, it doesn't mean you have to act this way!"

"You don't get it-"

"I don't get it?! I was back stabbed the most; I thought I was helping Rosalia, but I was just boosting her up. But killing any of them; that's pushing it!"

"I didn't have a choice-"

"There's always a choice." Now that Kirito thought about that, he saw what could've been done differently. He could've disarmed the bandits instead of PKing. He could've been calm.

"S..sorry," Kirito muttered. Asuna started to arrive.

"I heard Kirito's voic- what happened?"

"He couldn't handle it," Klein said simply.

* * *

"I..need some time for myself," Kirito declared. Asuna nodded.

"Fine. Just come back eventually."

"Go ahead,"

Kirito nodded and headed to the recently cleared floors. Klein turned around and faced the ex-bandits.

"Why were you two with the bandits?"

"I didn't train enough to have a higher level, and we were constantly weak. We had to join them to survive." Suguha's friend explained.

"Your name?"

"Oh, I'm Recon, and this is Suguha."

"Alright then, I'm Klein, and they're my guild members." Klein gestured toward them.

"And, if you want," Klein added. "You can join us."

"You're open?"

"Yeah,"

"Why?" Klein scratched his headband.

"The truth is, we don't like to leave people like you by yourselves, especially if you're mid-level, because, you might die. So we sometimes-"

"Just you, Klein," Someone called out.

"I, give you the opportunity to join a clearing guild. So, do you want to?"

"Sure," Recon shook his hand.

"Actually, I have to talk to them," Asuna strode past Klein.

"Look, your levels are low, so we were planning to send you out on a trip in the 45th floor, and take extreme risks to raise levels. She," Asuna pointed to Silica."…agreed, but I'm not sure if you will-"

"Stop," Suguha said, "It's better than robbing people. We're in."

 


	8. Revelation

_Floor 56_

Fūrin Kazan looked uneasily on the Geocrawler. The Floor 56th Labyrinth field boss. The biggest boss they encountered so far. Clearers tried to defeat it weren't very succesful. The boss was a gigantic snake-thing, with legs and bony armor. So far, the data was that the head is 'freaking indestructible', and that the belly is the only weak spot. Even Heathcliff got knocked away when the earthworm charged. The worm was also protected from it's sides by a valley, so flanking it's impossible, and the only good part was a village was close by, so they could be protected when everything goes bad.

So Klein hatched a plan. They grinded a whole day to get the materials. Everybody but Dynamm and the middle level players were here, with the Clearing guilds behind them.

Let's _do this._

Asuna materialized an armful of Grade A meat, and tried to divert the boss. The guilds attacked, and tried to get underneath. Asuna jumped up and down, trying to get attention. Nothing worked. The guilds retreated towards the village gates, and closed them.

The Grand Meaty Meat Plan failed. Klein cursed; he seriously thought that was going to work.

* * *

_Floor 50_

Suguha slashed the [Dark Shade] for what it seemed to be the millionth time.

"Do we have to do this?"

"The guild did it a thousand times! Now keep swinging," Dynamm responded. Silica, now donning a black coat, with a four diamond symbol on the right shoulder, the symbol of Fūrin Kazan. She approached a shade carefully, dagger in hand. The shade had it's back turned, unaware. She swiftly stabbed it in the back, and the shade died quickly. The Hiding Attack bonus.

"Now, throwing knives!" Dynamm called out. Silica held three in her hand, and all of them glowed blue, and Silica swiped her right arm to the right, launching them. Three projectiles, three targets. The ghoulish monsters began to go towards them.

"Recon!" The boy started to charge, and slammed his staff on the creature's side of the face, dealing blunt damage, dodging an attack, and kept slamming the knobbed end of the staff on the body, giving off streaks of light chasing the ends.

"Yes!" Silica cried out in accomplishment.

"What is it?"

"I caught up!" A level up prompt appeared in from of her, declaring that she reached level 70. Kirito was level 75.

"Your Blade Throwing Skill is _very_ mediocre."

Dynamm gestured to a shade. Silica quietly produced a few more knives from inside her coat with a sullen expression.

* * *

The clearing guilds huddled around a table with a map, in the dank cave. A man from the Knights of the Blood Oath started to speak.

"We should lure the boss into the village, and the NPCs will distract them," he explained.

"I agree," Asuna nodded. Klein and the clearing guild leaders shrugged nonchalantly.

"Wait," A guy in the default attire started to head to the center.

Kirito. Asuna cursed her lately by not recognizing him without the black coat.

"The NPCs will-"

"That's the point. The boss is distracted. We kill it while it's on a spree."

"Kirito, they respawn," Asuna tried to convince him.

"I just can't deal with this," He answered with a tone of finality.

"Fine. We'll do it without you,"

"If he's not doing it, we won't." Asuna argued. The Sub-Leader looked at the dead serious guild, and analyzed the situation. Fūrin Kazan was integral to defeating the halfway boss. They hold a lot of respect, whether they recognize it or not.

"I didn't want to do this," the man opened his menu, and a duel request appeared in front of Asuna. She started to walk towards the entrance, followed by the knight. Once they were out, the leader spoke.

"If you lose, you will comply with the plan. But if I lose, I will not use the plan."

[Accept First Strike Duel from 'Barry'?] Asuna clicked on the OK button. A timer started from 60, and counting down. They waited, on the arid, rocky land that was Floor 56.

Three.

Two.

One.

_Zero_.

Asuna sprang towards the red knight with blistering speed, landing dozens of thrust attacks, all blocked by his shield. Barry slashed in retaliation with a golden-hilted sword, but Asuna burst backwards, sucking her gut in an effort to avoid it. While his right arm was stretched to the left, Asuna leaped, and tried to sneak a blow above him, but he was too reflexive, raising his shield up in the nick of time. The knight grew tired, and unleashed a series of rapid strikes, Skill Chaining.

And Asuna dodged them, in close quarters. Her mind was at full speed, instinctively avoiding precise cuts and slashes. The attacker was caught off guard, pausing in a split second. Asuna jabbed him with an elegant [Linear], pushing him backwards, ending the duel.

[Duel Winner] appeared above Asuna. She calmly sheathed her rapier, walking away. Kirito stared at her, surprised at her reflexes.

"I, uh, thanks," he stuttered out.

"Never doubt me," Asuna remarked, smiling at his awkward demeanor.

* * *

"Who thought the solution was a lullaby?" Klein muttered, when they walked past a sleeping Geocrawler.

"I guess the KoB got this one," Harry Two deflated.

"Relax, we had other victories!" His brother reassured his twin, but got ignored almost completely. Meanwhile, Asuna tried to catch up to Kirito, near the front of the Assault Team in the Labyrinth.

"Why are you so detached lately?" Asuna asked on arrival, despite Kirito's attempt to stay away. The black-wearing teen thought for a moment.

"I, need some space."

"Why?" Now that was a question he struggled to answer.

"I thought it was obvious."

"Everyone makes mistakes," she declared, trying to console him.

"I still need some time to myself, and you agreed,"

"I said, come back eventually." Kirito stayed silent, and Asuna can still hear monsters disintegrating from the front of the Assault Team.

"You're a lot more cheerful," Kirito changed the subject.

"You're a lot more serious," Asuna shot back.

They looked at each other. Unknowingly, the switched personalities.

"Kirito, what happened to you?"

"Nothing,"

"Really?" Asuna leaned forward.

"Yes," he insisted, trying not to aggravate her. She believed him as much as she believes there's a log out button.

"It's about the Black Cats, isn't it?"

"How is it about them?"

"They were laid back, then Sachi died. Then you put two and two together, and thought that being happy will get yourself killed."

"Wait, but when Sachi died, you left us, for four months. Four whole months. Why are you bothered that I take a couple weeks off?" Kirito asks her. Asuna found her throat empty.

The Clearers reached a split in the Labyrinth. 5 alternate pathways were laid out in front of them. A minor discussion took place somewhere at the front, and Asuna only heard mumbling from the front. She went back to the guild.

"Who wants to go scout out?" Klein asked the guild, then noticed Asuna. "You wanna map the Labyrinth?" she looked around. The main guilds retired from the dungeon crawling, along with smaller guilds, due to the day almost ending. A few people stayed, however.

Most notably, Kirito.

"Are you going to map?" Asuna asked Klein.

"No. These guys won't too. It's getting late, anyway." He shrugged.

"I'll stay here. You guys go rest." She responded, going towards the front. Klein smirked.

"Want some time with Kirito, eh?"

"What?! No!" she retaliated, much to the guild's knowing smiles. Klein lead the guild back to the entrance.

"Okay, Asuna. We'll leave you alone." Klein held back a laugh. The whole guild cracked up extremely loudly, darkening Asuna's blush even more.

"Shut up!" she marched away, upsetting Klein a bit.

"Sorry, couldn't resist!" Klein called out. Asuna kept walking towards the split in the path.

Kirito looked around the Labyrinth. Some monsters far away, not detecting him yet. No players at all, just him. He knelt down slowly, scrolling through his equipment.

"Kirito!" he jumped, quickly turning around. Asuna walked toward him, and Kirito frowned in annoyance.

"I… You're still here?"

"Yeah. Why?" Her response generated stuttering noises from him. "Can you leave me alone for ten _minutes?!_ "

"What are you hiding?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Nothing!"

She frowned, and Kirito's answer pretty much confirmed her suspicions.

"Well, fine then. I'll go back." Asuna turned around. "But, please, come back soon." She said softly, before heading out.

The familiar enemy spawn sound effect played. Kirito instantly reached for his shoulder and unsheathed his sword. Rock-like golems started appearing around them. He reached for his sword, but Asuna ran up first, and beat him to it, stabbing the golem away.

"Thanks, but can you go now?" Kirito requested a bit bluntly, but Asuna didn't waver.

"What about a challenge?" she offered.

"No." Kirito automatically reacted.

"Come on! It'll be fun!"

He seriously didn't know how she got this upbeat. She was far from that shy girl before.

"If I accept, will you leave me alone?"

She sighed, but nodded.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone." More enemies spawned around them, evenly between two sides. "Take the left, Kirito. Whoever can kill all of the enemies from their own side quicker, wins." Asuna explained. Kirito quickly counted the rock monsters on the two sides, and, it was even.

They attacked. Kirito attacked, various Sword Skills scything through the opposition. Asuna stabbed with blinding speed, taking each golem out one by one, only using the more powerful Sword Skills sparingly. Kirito kept twisting, golems disintegrating around him, coat flaring. Asuna never paused, her mind calculating distances and hostile attacks.

Kirito soon ran out of Sword Skills to use, all of them in cooldown. He sheathed his sword, and started smashing the golems with his fists, using his Unarmed skills.

It was exciting, and Kirito, first indifferent, now is dodging attacks and countering, aiming to defeat his counterpart.

The last golem was a couple meters away from him. Kirito, surrounded by disintegrating enemies , dashed for the next one, anticipating his victory.

"Done!" Asuna shouted. Kirito looked at her, and sure enough, she was standing there, rapier sheathed, surrounded by nothing.

Kirito grabbed the last golem with a powerful throw, smashing it to the ground.

"You're… _fast_." He sat down, breathless. Asuna grinned at him, before her smile wavered.

"See you next time, I guess." She turned away, but he had one final question.

"Wait! You haven't finished my question a while back. About, why you were okay with taking four months off, but when I take a couple weeks, you get annoyed. Why, Asuna?" Kirito asked again.

She started looping her hair around her fingers, and poured her heart out.

"Kirito, back then, I was suicidal. During those months, I was a little depressed. I trained Sachi the best I could, and someone I can call a friend, but she died anyway. I thought I wasn't good enough, that I have to be better, that she has to be alive. Otherwise, what am I good for? I couldn't even protect her."

Kirito looked down, and Asuna sat down with him.

"I spent four months obsessively training." She continued, "I felt worthless, but most importantly, lonely. I had no one. Sachi was the closest thing to a best friend I ever had. Then, you guys tracked me down. I realized that our guild, has each other's backs, like me and Sachi. That you guys, are also my friends. I just never realized it. I stopped taking you all for granted. Kirito, you seem to focus on training a lot while on your break. I seriously hope that you aren't experiencing the same things I did a long time ago." She got up, wiping her eyes.

"And that's why I'm annoyed."

Kirito didn't say anything. Asuna silently left. He watched her leave.

A moment passed, before Kirito accessed his menu.

A second sword sheath formed on his back. He wiped tears away, and started to focus on another enemy.

[Dual Wielding- 798/1000]

_I'm sorry, but I need just a little more time._

 


	9. X'rphan the White Wyrm

 

 

 

_Floor 48_

Lisbeth sweated under the hot furnace, consistently pumping the bellows attached to the side. Once the silver ingot inside was red hot, Lisbeth used a pair of tongs to carry it onto a workbench. She grabbed her hammer used to forge spears, and started to smack the ingot, starting the process. The probability of forming into a weapon appeared in her HUD.

60%. And that's _after_ temporarily boosting her luck stat.

_At least it's more than half,_ she thought, trying to calm herself.

The person who custom-ordered the spear offered a hefty price.

Again, she struck the ingot with nervous force.

It did not disintegrate.

Again.

Nothing, except the ingot was significantly flatter.

_Again!_ Lisbeth saw the ingot form, and take shape.

A white and grey spear presented itself. It had a gleaming platinum blade at the tip, that was designed to look like a white flame, along with a ivory-like shaft, with streaks of silver running down like ribbons. Lisbeth let out a lungful of air, relieved from the stress. She dissolved it into her inventory.

Her shop door opened, along with some murmuring.

Lisbeth quickly wiped any sweat on her forehead, and attended her post. She surveyed the crowd. A group of people, all looking around, occasionally comparing weapons. They were all different. One, who had a flying animal on top of her head, wore a black cloak, with darkly coloured clothing underneath, that had four squares sewn into what would be her right shoulder on the cloak. Another had armor, and he was red and black, but the symbol was on the left side of his chest.

Everyone was connected.

A orange-brownish haired girl noticed her, and started to walk towards the counter.

"Hello! Can I help you?" Lisbeth chirped, and analyzed her probable worth. Custom made dress, along with a guild that can afford it. Considerably wealthy.

"Do you have any rapiers-" Asuna stopped when the blacksmith took out one. A silver rapier, adorned with pale blue decorations, with a circular hand guard.

"Lambent Light, plus ten!" Lisbeth gave her the light weapon, and Asuna tested it, slashing it around, accidentally hitting a display.

"Sorry," Asuna apologized.

"It's alright. The damage is 690-710. I could only reach this level of quality every three months," Lisbeth bragged. Asuna raised an eyebrow. Three months is one-sixth of the entire time period they spent when trapped here.

"I'll take it." Asuna said nonchalantly, and opened the barter window.

* * *

Fūrin Kazan left the shop, the sky tinted orange.

"I'll catch up, you guys go to the inn at the frontline," Asuna waved, as they headed for the teleport gate.

"So, is there anything else?" Lisbeth ventured.

"One of my friends is tracking someone else, who is also one of my friends-" Asuna noticed Lisbeth's confusion.

"Long story, and he want's your best pre-made katana," Asuna finished, remembering the message from Klein on the top of her head.

* * *

_63rd Labyrinth_

Klein surveyed the area. He opened his friend's list, finding Kirito's location.

"Okay, 'round the bend…" Klein went around a corner…

Seeing Kirito initiate a skill on a particular creature…

With two swords.

"What the _hell?_ "

"Wha?!" Kirito threw a sword away, trying to hide his skill.

"I..you..have that," Klein was taken aback, pointing at Kirito. Kirito winced, hoping he wouldn't tell anyone.

"Don't tell anyone," Kirito implored him, shaking his shoulders. Klein shook his head.

"I won't." he assured him. The teenager sighed in relief, and continued to the exit of the Labyrinth. But Klein continued. "But what about the guild?" Kirito paused for a moment, calculating what would had happened if he did talk.

"I guess so." Klein smiled at Kirito's trust in them.

"Alright. When did you get the skill?"

"Six months ago," Klein remembered the time period. After Sachi's death.

_Wow. He hid it all this time…_

"Come on, I have to pick up a weapon on a shop," Klein urged Kirito forward.

"Oh, cool, you're using Elucidator!" Klein added optimistically.

* * *

"Lisbeth's Smith Shop..has water wheel.." Klein looked at Asuna's message again, deciphering it, and looking around. The village was now populated with players doing everyday chores, used to their surroundings.

"Geez, it's like Morrowind," Klein muttered, catching Kirito's attention.

"What's 'Morrowind'?" Kirito asked curiously, much to Klein's mild irritation.

"Half of my friends will _kill_ you for saying that. _Morrowind?_ Third part of the _Elder Scrolls?_ " Kirito shook his head, much to Klein's disdain.

"What do you _play?_ "

"Aside from studying SAO mechanics, and playing on the beta, not much." Kirito shrugged.

"When we get to the real world, we're gonna play some _classics._ " Klein spotted a house with a water wheel.

"There it is!" They went to the shop. They were immediately met with a store with a assorted array of weapons.

"Hi, a girl named Asuna reserved something for me," Klein grabbed Lisbeth's attention.

"Oh, yeah. Klein, right?" Lisbeth materialized a sword on a counter. A katana presented itself, a black handle, with a dark red sheath.

"Heartless Reaver, plus twenty. The damage is 670-690, and durability is very high, unlike my other swords." Klein picked it up, and slid the blade out, admiring the blade. It was grey, with a reddish tint.

"14000 Col." Lisbeth added hesitantly.

" _WHAT?!_ " Klein boomed.

"Oh, geez," Kirito patted Klein's back, sympathizing.

"Calm down; do you know how much I went through with that?" Lisbeth asserted. Klein started to think his decision through. Lisbeth turned to Kirito.

"Do you want something?"

"Oh, a custom sword, the best you can make," Lisbeth was skeptical. He had no representation of any guild on his black coat.

"Are you sure? Prices are high right now, and your request is a little vague. Kirito shrugged, and shook his head.

"Don't worry about that."

"Fine, but I need like a benchmark. Like your sword." Lisbeth explained to him, and pointing to Elucidator.

"Alright," Kirito removed the weapon from his back, and presented it. Lisbeth almost dropped it when receiving it.

"Elucidator…" Lisbeth whispered in awe. "Where did you get this?" She asked.

"50th floor last attack bonus," Klein called out. Lisbeth gave the sword back, and took out her own under the counter.

"Here, my masterpiece." Lisbeth gave a blue hilted sword, with a thin white blade. Kirito swung it experimentally, testing it.

"Feels light,"

"I used a speed type metal to forge it," Kirito took it into account, and started to place Elucidator's handle and blade tip on two tables, leaving a space empty below the rest of the sword.

"What are you doing?" Lisbeth asked nervously. Klein started to notice Kirito.

"Relax,"

"Your sword might break!"

"Um, Kirito, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Klein warned, getting up.

"Yeah, _sorta_ ," Kirito shrugged, and proceeded to slam the blue hilted sword to Elucidator.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to check the _stats_ first?!" Lisbeth reasoned, sweating nervously about his actions.

At the height if the swing, Klein grabbed Kirito's wrist, stopping him. Kirito tried to initiate the Sword Skill, but his Pre-Motion was off.

"She has a point," Klein gave him a look of common sense.

"Fine." Kirito gave Lisbeth's sword back, and sheathed his.

"Blinkstrike. No improvements, 650-670, 500 Durability…" Lisbeth stopped, and calmly put the sword away. Klein knew what was going to happen next, and stepped back. Lisbeth walked towards Kirito in a eerily silent fashion, the latter oblivious.

"Wha-" Kirito was lifted by the collar by Lisbeth, her face red with rage.

"You were going to break _my masterpiece!_ " Lisbeth shouted towards his face.

"I didn't know that!" Kirito raised his hands up defensively,"

"Do you do this with _every sword_ you buy?! Just because it's a little light?!" Klein patted her shoulder.

"Maybe you should cal-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Lisbeth exploded red-hot. Klein stepped back again, not making a peep.

"I can make a thousand swords that is better that yours in every way!" Lisbeth dropped Kirito, and pointed towards the door.

"Out." Lisbeth said simply, and glared at him furiously.

"Out?"

" _Out_!" She burst, and started grabbing his arm and leading him towards the door. Kirito hesitated, and tried to escape.

"Waitwaitwait," Kirito stuttered, but it didn't break Lisbeth's silent anger. He ignored it.

"Why can't you make those swords that you said?"

"I don't have the materials!" Lisbeth scoffed, and crossed her arms.

"What if I got you some?" Kirito offered. Lisbeth's look changed.

"There's a rare ingot in Floor 55, guarded by a dragon," she told them.

"I'll get it myself. Klein!"

"You also need a master smith with you," Lisbeth smirked. "Still want to go alone?" she said coyly. Kirito shrugged.

"Fine. Come with us." Klein however, groaned.

"Are you seriously going to postpone the guild again?"

"We'll just do it quickly," Kirito went towards the door. Lisbeth followed him, until Klein gave a warning.

"Might want to bring a coat,"

* * *

They walked for hours to the west. The dragon lived on the top of a mountain there.

"We're close." Kirito warned, seeing a field of crystals up ahead. Klein grabbed his katana's hilt, ready for anything. Lisbeth though, was very far from cautious. She dashed towards the nearest one.

"These crystals…" she admired her reflection from the crystal's shine.

"Lisbeth, stay back when the dragon appears," Klein focused on the top of the mountain.

"I can handle myself," she defended, but the two didn't care.

"We're Clearers. Are you?" Lisbeth shut up, and hid behind a crystal.

"Here it comes!" Kirito yelled, and dashed towards the sides.

X'rphan the White Wyrm.

The dragon flew towards them, letting out a stream of fire towards them. Klein went towards it's legs, and managed to hit it. He saw it fly away, and saw Kirito hanging on to his sword.

Which was right now, half deep into the dragon's flesh.

"Kirito, are you _insane?!_ " Klein called out. Unfortunately, Kirito was too busy to notice.

Kirito hung on to the dragon, and met with a face full of wind. The dragon dove for Klein, and Kirito went straight down with the dragon, pretty much dragged by X'rphan. The white dragon emitted a shockwave when landed, causing Klein to scramble up, towards it. Kirito, after landing head first in the snow, pried Elucidator out of the dragon's scale, and started attacking, shaving the armor-like scale off, and attacking the soft flesh beneath. Klein dodged the fire blasts, and kept attacking the neck constantly.

Lisbeth watched the two attack the dragon. The boss' HP was barely more than half of the first health bars. They weren't really doing well, which prompted her to help.

"Where are they?" Klein muttered nervously, and saw Lisbeth running towards him, while he was checking the bottom of the mountain.

"Lisbeth?!"

"I want to help!"

"Oh _crap_!" Kirito yelled. The dragon started to fly.

Right when Kirito finished a Sword Skill that involved stabbing it's chest.. The dragon, after two hundred meters off the ground, noticed Kirito, and started to dive down towards Klein and Lisbeth, and directed them towards the hole, before suddenly stopping, spreading out it's wings like an air brake, and launched him towards the two, which in turn, fell towards the dragon's den.

* * *

"They're not there!" Silica announced to the guild, after checking the top. "There's just a dragon circling," Asuna nodded, and looked at Klein's message again.

"Check the dragon's health." Asuna suggested, and Silica ran off.

"So, either they escaped with a crystal, or trapped somehow in there." Issin analyzed the situation.

Asuna checked her friends list, and located them.

"Oh no," she muttered, and Harry Two checked.

"Well, at least it wasn't a bottomless pit." He added.

"So, what now?" Dynamm sat on the snowy ground, waiting for a response.

"Fight the boss?" Kunimittz shrugged.

"We're just one guild. We need more people to attempt it." Silica arrived, a little out of breath.

"The dragon's damaged a bit,"

"So they _were_ there," Issin said under his breath. Asuna opened her friends list again, and gathered Silica.

"Go to the 60th floor, and look for the Moonlit Black Cats,"

* * *

Kirito awoke panting, and looked around. He was half buried in snow. He crawled out groggily, and surveyed the area. An empty hole, with a floor of snow. There were two other human-shaped holes. He got up dizzily, and looked at the hole nearest to him. Lisbeth was half awake, and trying to get out. Kirito helped her up.

"Klein, you alright?"

"I swear, I have an actual headache." A katana was thrown out of the hole first, before Klein climbed out.

"Geez, that was harsh," Klein brushed some snow out of his armor, and wore his katana. Kirito stretched, and looked up. The sky had a tinge of orange.

"Teleport: Algade!" Lisbeth shouted, to no effect.

"Anti-crystal field. It's like they're easier and easier to find," Klein mused. Kirito examined the wall.

"So, how would we get out?" Lisbeth asked.

"We can run on the walls," Kirito said nonchalantly. Klein facepalmed.

"Well, _you_ can," Kirito ignored the camouflaged insult, and walked backwards for several paces, before dashing towards the wall, and ran on it. He made progress, before his feet made contact with some ice, and falling down.

" _Knew it_." Klein smirked. Kirito frowned, and picked himself up.

"Kunimittz is rubbing on you,"

"Who's Kunimittz?" Lisbeth asked.

"Part of our guild, Fūrin Kazan." Klein exclaimed proudly. Lisbeth raised an eyebrow. Klein saw her expression, and sighed.

"The Elementals?"

"I heard of you guys!" Lisbeth then randomly shook Klein's hand. "The ones who lead the fiftieth boss battle!" Both Kirito and Klein sighed. Kirito then noticed something behind her.

"What's that?" Kirito then ran to the other side of the dragon lair, and picked up a bluish meteorite-like object.

[Crystalline Ingot]

"What's th- oh my god!" Lisbeth snatched the ingot and admired it.

"So, nobody got this because it was here," Klein predicted.

"It eats crystals, right? Maybe it processed in the stomach and churned this out." Kirito said. A moment passed . Lisbeth shrieked and dropped it, and wiped her hands, and Klein chuckled, then looked up. It was evening.

* * *

"Keita!" Asuna welcomed his group into a little camp they set up, a fire with a spit, and bedrolls around.

"Hello, it's been so long!" He exclaimed, and the two groups started exchanging hand shakes. Once the mingling ended, Asuna explained the situation.

"The mountain near us has a dragon, and that dragon has a lair, which is right on the top. Kirito and Klein, along with a blacksmith, fell down the hole. We have to defeat the dragon."

"The thing is, my guild already defeated the boss, and, I guess it respawned," Keita responded, surprising the clearing guild.

"We were middle level players. We fight a lot of Field Bosses," Tetsuo said nonchalantly. Issin thought of a question.

"What level are you?" The Black Cats grinned, and Keita announced their average level.

"Thanks to a shopkeeper named Agil, we managed to get to level 80!"

"Nice!"

"You're almost there, guys! A few more months' training!"

* * *

Kirito examined the night sky, laying back in a bedroll, and a lantern beside him.

"Hey Kirito, why did you try to attempt the dragon alone?" Klein asked curiously, and tried not to sound condescending.

"My level's much higher than it," he reasoned.

"You forgot the fact that it _flies and breathes fire._ " Lisbeth commented dryly. Kirito turned to his side.

"I know."

"Yeah, Kirito, you're not the Dragonborn." Klein spoke up. Kirito raised an eyebrow.

"What's that? Is it on Morrowind?"Kirito asked. Klein sunk deeper into the bedroll.

"Never heard of The Elder Scrolls?" Lisbeth inquired. Kirito muttered incoherently on how everyone knows that except him.

* * *

Klein woke up, from sounds of wind emanating from the sky. He calmly opened his eyes.

To X'rphan diving down the hole.

" _Holy_ **_crap!_** "

The two guilds charged up the hill, after witnessing X'rphan go down his lair.

"Dale! Attract the dragon!" The man went to the edge of the hole, and activated his Fighting Spirit skill, emitting a thunderous roar. The dragon looked up, and started to fly. But not after landing, startling Kirito and Lisbeth into action.

"Guys, come with me!" Kirito ran towards the white lizard's body, and half-buried Elucidator into the flesh.

"Hang on to my arms!" Klein and Lisbeth each hooked on. The dragon took off with blistering speed, carrying them out. Kirito hung on for dear life, and his eyes were hit by the morning sun. They were carried to such a height, the trap the fallen into seemed tiny. Kirito pressed his left hand into the dragon's scales, and tried to pry his sword out with his right. It came out with surprising ease, sending them into freefall, losing his grip on the obsidian blade.

Asuna watched the dragon carefully, analyzing it's attack pattern, until tumbling downhill from an unknown force. Kirito rolled with her, until finally stopping halfway. Kirito was buried under her, and his hands were right in her... bottom. Kirito reflexively squeezed his hands, as trying to get a grip on his surroundings, but only manage to grope her _ass_.

What a reunion.

The girl kicked Kirito away with substantial force, and once Kirito saw her embarrassed expression, and her arms protecting her butt, Kirito reddened.

"I'm really sorr-"

"Dragon!" Klein yelled towards the duo on the slope. X'rphan started diving like a missile towards them. Kirito faced the dragon, and found Elucidator impaled halfway deep in a crystal. Asuna scrambled to find Lambent Light in the snow, and when sufficiently armed, started to dash up the hill to Fūrin Kazan.

"Nice to see you back for real, Kirito!" Dale commented. Kirito grinned and faced the dragon. Keita yelled and charged, backed with Tetsuo and Sasamaru, with Ducker dashing around it, hitting the neck, and other weak points.

"What are they doing here?!" Kirito asked Asuna.

"Called for help." The Black Cats, despite their small size, depleted a bar already. Mountain Team was already running towards them, providing support.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Klein said, as he charged towards X'rphan.

"Welcome back, Kirito," Asuna said sincerely, while hugging him, and ran towards the fight. Kirito glowed for a moment, then ran to the frontlines.

* * *

Lisbeth carefully handled the light blue ingot, now glowing a little from the heat, towards her workbench, and proceeded to flatten it with her hammer.

_That was a great trip!_

_Smack!_

_I wonder if I should give them a discount?_

_Smack!_

_Well, they did give all the Col and equipment from the white dragon to me,_

_Smack!_

_Ah, screw it._

The ingot started to glow. It started to form into a blade, and revealed itself. A pale blue sword, with a sapphire on the hilt.

"Dark Repulser. The durability is well over a thousand, and the damage is 680-700." Kirito took the blade and swung it. The blade emanated a bluish afterimage when in motion.

"It's pretty heavy." Kirito opened a trade request.

"How much?"

"Oh, it's yours!" Lisbeth beamed. "You gave me such an adventure on the mountain, so, this is my way to repay you!"

"Wow, thanks!" Kirito materialized the sword into his inventory and left. Klein followed suit until Lisbeth stopped him.

"Here, on me." Lisbeth handed him Heartless Reaver, and waved goodbye. Klein grinned at her, then left. Lisbeth watched them leave with a single thought.

_How much money did I lose?_

* * *

"Um, Asuna, I didn't get the chance to say this..." Kirito said nervously. Asuna anticipated his words, secretly hoping for a certain outcome.

"Sorry for groping your butt." Kirito bowed his head to her. Asuna blushed, and scratched her head.

"D..Don't mention it," Kirito's face turned to a confused one from the awkward wording.

"I mean, don't mention it to anybody!" she said frantically, realizing her mistake.

"Alright," Kirito nodded, and sighed from relief. "I seriously thought that you were going to punch me," he added, generating a curious look from her.

"Why would I punch you?"

"I dunno... I just thought you would," Kirito chuckled awkwardly.

 


	10. The Gleam Eyes

Floor 70: Main Town

"Dynamm told us to wait here." Suguha reviewed their message for the tenth time, while Recon leaned back on a bench.

"That was five minutes ago."

"Maybe we just caught them when they're in a labyrinth." Suguha suggested, trying to quell her friend's impatience.

"Hey, Suguha," Silica tapped her shoulder, behind them.

"Oh, Silica, where's the rest of the guild?"

"They're in a labyrinth right now, so, they sent me." Silica explained, then headed to the teleport gate.

* * *

Floor 74 Labyrinth

The guild huddled around a campfire in the very strange maze, with Asuna currently cooking meat on a spit.

"Hey Kirito, why do you only use one sword?" Asuna asked, and the whole guild looked at him with a 'That's a good question' look.

"I want to use two hands with a sword, but I don't want to use a greatsword." Klein peered at him further.

"It looks cool, too." He admitted.

"When's your birthday?" Klein brought up, capturing the attention of his fellow guild mates.

"Almost two weeks ago, why?" The group winced, and Klein scratched his head, materializing something.

"We probably have to give you this now, sorry for being late."

"Late on what? Seriously," Kirito asked Klein, prompting a confused look from him.

"Your birthday present. Here." The samurai handed him a red trench coat, looking similar to his own black one.

"What's this?"

"It's a coat. We had to kill lots of dragons for that thing." Asuna explained, and gestured him to put it on. Kirito silently obeyed, and replaced his armor body slot. His jacket was replaced with the red one. It was like his old one, except it had bigger shoulder pauldrons, and bracers, with Fūrin Kazan's four-square symbol emblazoned on the left side of Kirito's chest, finally revealing his connection with the guild.

"Thank you, but-" Kirito saw Silica back, with Suguha and Recon in tow. He immediately scrambled behind something.

"What's wrong? Go apologize!" Klein pulled him out, and the guild pushed him towards them. Kirito bowed down, refusing to look at them in the face.

"Look, um.. I'm really sorry about last time, and-"

"Get up." Recon nudged him, and Kirito slowly obeyed, still looking at his feet. Suguha then hugged him.

"You're my brother, so I forgive you," Once Kirito detached, he faced Recon.

"Yeah, sorry for punching you in the face…"

"It's okay." He then held out a hand to Kirito, who shook it.

"Recon."

"Kirito."

Their reunion was interrupted by a group marching towards the boss room. All of the members wore identical armor, with green cloaks. Most of them were exhausted, struggling not to collapse to the ground. The leader remained ever so vigilant, calling out commands.

"Aincrad Liberation Force, move out!" Everybody in the group except him groaned, and hobbled forward.

"It's been a long time not seeing one of them," Asuna commented, looking at them march off at a unfamiliar path.

"Do they know where the boss room is? Silica, tail them." Klein said, watching her scurry off. The silence was broken when NPC monsters started spawning around them. Klein looked around for signs of a safe area, but found none.

"Crap."

* * *

Silica stayed a considerable distance away from them, randomly hiding behind something once in a while. Not that the Army cared; they just tried to walk forward, busy on reaching the objective with fatigue. They came across a large, ornate door, with braziers holding blue fire on each side of the door. The leader opened it, and when he stepped inside, the room lit, blazing blue flames around the room.

[The Gleam Eyes] stood there, with it's hulking physique, and goat horns. Beside it was a gigantic Zanbato sword, a wide blade with no hand guard. Something about it's appearance readied Silica to run.

"Attack!" The commander shouted, with all of then breaking into a winded run. They had courage.

Pure, idiotic courage.

The blue demon raised it's sword for a massive sweep, cutting across the Army's ranks with destructive force. Silica took off, heading back.

"Help!" she screamed, trying to squeeze every decibel out of her throat.

"Silica?!" Kirito ran towards the sound, backed by the guild, chasing the echo. They saw the boss room, fully lit. The boss was utterly destroying the opposition.

"Use the crystals!" Kirito called out, until seeing a member holding one hopelessly.

"They don't work!"

"Attack!" Their commander said once more, bringing some halfhearted companions. The boss reared back, and fired a purple energy attack from it's mouth, in a force so great, it blew the leader towards the door, landing a few feet away from the entrance. The helmet shattered, revealing his face in a wide-eyed stare.

"Impossible," he whispered, until he exploded in countless particles.

"No!" Asuna sprinted towards the boss with furious anger, freshly reminded of Sachi's death. She leaped up, and delivered a flurry of strikes at the nape of the neck, attracting it's attention. The boss turned around and punched her, almost sending her back to the door.

"Asuna!" Kirito dashed forward, reversed his grip on Elucidator, and parried with the gigantic sword, constantly draining his health.

"Everyone, get the Army out of there!" Kirito shouted. The ALF squad was located at the far side of the room, with a enormous amount of distance between them, not to mention a floor boss.

"Kirito, your health-"

"Just do it!" Kirito constantly avoided and blocked attacks, yet the fight was draining his health on a fast and steady rate. Kirito then was batted away a considerable distance, landing almost exactly where he started.

"Klein, watch out!" The boss started to slash at them, killing an Army member. Kirito consumed a potion, and dashed at the boss once more. He slashed at the neck, trying to distract it. The boss grunted and turned around, facing him again. Kirito evaded as much attack as he can, but his HP still chipped away. Harry One appeared beside him, blocking an attack with a tower shield, taking the hits well.

"What are you doing here?!"

"What does it look like,"he said between grunts, and through gritted teeth, "I'm distracting it!"

"I can distract it by myself-"

"I have a full set of armor, and a shield! Stop trying to carry everyone!" Harry One yelled, pushing him towards the direction of the rest of the guild. Dale and Harry Two strode past him, providing backup to the forward. Kirito sprinted towards the Army, and helped Klein carry an Army member up.

"It's a long distance to carry them, and I doubt they can hold that long," Klein looked at Mountain Team, distracting the boss.

"Yeah, you're right, we need more people." He then darted towards the boss room entrance, set up a crystal, and teleported. Klein groaned, and urged the Army man along, questioning his return. He saw the forwards tiring, and looked around for the most heavily armoured person in the immediate vicinity. There was Kunimittz, who actually _is_ a forward, but right now aiding the rest of the forwards' patients. Suguha and Recon were offence-heavy, wearing robes, and Asuna's out of the question. Dynamm's armored, but not as much as…

Me. Klein laid the Army member down, and went to Harry One, the most fatigued.

"Tag out!" Harry One went back to the group carrying the ALF squad, and Klein struggled to parry with the giant sword.

"Kirito, when are you back?" Asuna whispered, looking at the entrance. Dale was caught in another bind, pushing his sword against the Zanbato. He tilted his sword, slipping it beside him. The boss gathered purple energy from seemingly nowhere, powering up.

"Line up behind me!" Harry Two commanded, and the two warriors obliged. The energy attack was partially blocked by the tower shield, creating a safe space behind him. It hit Harry Two like a meteor, making him struggle to keep his footing. Once it was over, he collapsed.

"Is everyone okay?" He wheezed out, kneeling. "Are you?!" Dale helped him up, putting his arm around his shoulders. Dale quickly checked the Army's progress. Not good.

"Can you keep going?"

"I'm no Heathcliff, but yeah, I think I could." Klein parried some more strikes, almost losing his footing with every clash. As predicted, the boss reared up it's head, and powered up. Harry Two rose, and held up his shield. Klein and Dale gripped his shoulders, helping him with the impact. The attack came, and they barely stood their ground. Harry Two's HP went into the red.

"Damn it!" Harry Two strained, not anticipating another sword swipe. Dale parried it again, but knocked away. Asuna stared at the entrance hopefully, looking at the crystal Kirito left on the floor.

Then she saw a flash of light. Kirito appeared, seemingly waiting. Then, multiple flashes appeared behind him, a collection of guilds, more than two dozen strong, that Fūrin Kazan befriended at the 50th boss battle. Fuumaningun, a beta tester ninja guild wearing dark cloth armor, and scimitars, renowned for their speed, appeared alongside.

"You know, I'm only doing this 'cause you're one of us," It's leader Kotaru, commented. Kirito rolled his eyes.

"Right." Keita ran up to Kirito, extremely excited.

"The Black Cats' first floor boss! But isn't there supposed to be a meeting?"

"We're just going to distract it! Now," Kirito unsheathed Elucidator, pointing at the boss' head. "Attack!" The multiple guilds charged under his command.

"All forwards, distract the boss! Kotaru, take your guild and attack! Everyone else, help the Army!" Kirito fired orders rapidly. The lumbering group was making slow, but steady progress. The ninja guild kept slashing it's legs in a extremely fast speed. Klein was visibly surprised, as extra forwards supported them.

"Kirito, you are a _badass_!" Dynamm exclaimed proudly. Asuna had a gigantic grin on her face, admiring his decision. Five men joined Klein's group, supporting them, while others sped up the Army squad's rescue. After being replaced by two others, Asuna charged towards the boss, activating a Sword Skill while sprinting.

Her most powerful skill, [Flashing Penetrator], activated. She took off like a rocket, heading toward the boss' legs with blistering speed, and went through the leg, taking several flips and rolls to stop. The boss reached it's red health zone, and started it's endgame. The boss roared, and a purple aura surrounded it. A catastrophic sweep from it's powered up sword stopped the attacking parties, severely damaging them, single-handedly tipping the scale to it's favour. It then started to charge another energy attack.

Kirito saw his whole rescue crumble. People tiredly retreating, fatigued from the fight. A figure sailed through the air, swatted by the boss' sword, and landed a few feet away from him.

Asuna

"Are you okay?!" he said frantically, helping her up. "I'm fine," she said, a little stunned.

Kirito saw the sliver of red left in her health bar and froze for a moment.

"Asuna, retreat back."

"No, I'm-"

"Go!" he pushed her back. Asuna looked back at him. "Don't do anything stupid!" she yelled above the chaos.

"Trust me!"

Kirito watched her go back, then faced the boss.

He had to finish it, the fastest way possible.

Even if it reveals his secret.

Kirito started to open menus, trying for one final attack to finish it off. The violet wind started to come fast. He stabbed his sword to the ground, and gripping on tight, resisting the force, watching his HP drain. A second scabbard appeared behind his left shoulder, carrying Dark Repulser. Once it was over, he ran to it's stomach, not caring that his own HP is in the red zone.

That thing just _had_ to die.

Kirito activated Pre-Motion. The two swords glowed blue, and Kirito commenced [Starburst Stream], a devastating 20-hit combo. He slashed horizontally, following with a upward strike, then spinning twice, slicing both swords from left to right, gaining speed, reversing grip, and making X's on the bosses chest, generating ribbon-like streaks of light emanating around him, before leaping, and performing another combo on air, seemingly creating a bluish orb around him, his arms blurring from the speed. The floor boss kicked him up in the air, and slashing a backhand strike to Kirito. He parried with Elucidator, which cracked and shattered from the power, yet still repelling it's opponent. Kirito switched hands with Dark Repulser, and slashed downward, creating a gash from head to toe.

The Gleam Eyes froze, and exploded into polygons. [Congratulations!] hovered above Kirito, and the teen took a knee from exhaustion.

"What was that?!"

"How do you get that skill?!"

"Holy _shit!_ "

Kirito silently sheathed his remaining sword, amid the questions. Asuna pushed her way into the crowd, pretty much saying the whole crowd's question.

"What was that?"

Kirito sighed and sat down on the floor.

"I got it six months ago. The skill's called Dual Blades. I, wanted to keep it secret, but I had to finish off the boss faster."

"How did you get it?!"

"Dunno. Just appeared."

The whole crowd went silent, still trying to comprehend his explanation.

"Well, at least they made it," Asuna said, helping him up. "Y'know, that guy," he pointed to Klein, who's starting to get flustered.

"He knew about it the whole time."

"I.. He _convinced_ me!" Klein raised his hands in defence.

"Anyway, thanks for saving us,"a Army member shook hands with him, and solidified a relationship between the two guilds. Kotaru came up to him.

"It's too bad my guild can't dual wield, but the skill belongs to the right hands, I guess. Nice coat by the way." The ninja guild went towards the new floor, eager to explore. The rest of the guilds erupted to massive cheers.

"Hey Kirito, that was much better than normal floor bosses!" Keita hugged him randomly, and they went for the new floor, leaving a surprised Kirito.

* * *

"So, what's that black guild?" Klein nudged him, while walking around the 75th floor. Kirito chuckled nervously.

"Before I reunited with you guys, I sorta joined them. I didn't actually officially joined the guild, but well…"

"Really Kirito, seriously?" Issin said bluntly.

"I have a life outside you guys,"

"Last I checked, you have no life." Dynamm joked. Kirito chuckled, and started to run towards a house NPC vendor he spotted from a distance.

"Klein, we have a lot more Col now, so we're buying a house!"

"Woohoo!" Klein yelled, and the rest of the guild muttered agreement.

"This is pretty cheap for a house actually…"

* * *

 


	11. Crusade

_Prologue_

_Floor 36_

The Divine Dragon Alliance soldier walked carefully on the beaten path, nervous from the floor aesthetics; bare trees, a violet atmosphere. The metal plate armor created a rhythmic clanging with each step. The Laughing Coffin members are rumoured to gather up here. They have killed hundreds of players, and the DDA, had enough, and sent messengers to negotiate with them peacefully, like him. He came upon a tree, with a coffin drawing scratched on the surface.

They're close.

He saw a glimpse of light among the barren trees, soft candlelight. A throwing knife whistled towards him, burying itself on the warrior's shoulder, the force pushing him to the ground. A thunderbolt icon appeared right next to his health bar.

"What?!"

"Hey boss! I got another one!" A raggedy figure rose from the shadows,his armored gauntlets grasping three other knives. A yell came from afar. The soldier looked at the direction, and saw two glowing eyes.

"You can have him!" The figure cackled, and revealed a jagged dagger. The soldier feared this; all messengers before him never returned.

* * *

_Floor 75_

"Wait, are you _serious_?!" Klein was taken aback by Kirito's generosity.

"Yeah, we got lots of Col, so…"

"It took you two years to realize that?" Kunimittz asked dryly.

"Shut up." Kirito finished the transaction between the NPC vendor. "Anyway, I have to go to Lisbeth to get a new sword, so buy furniture or something."

"Wait, how much did that cost?" Asuna asked before Kirito left to the teleport gate.

"Oh, like, 50 million Col." She looked at the huge mansion-like house, a and looked at him.

"That is extremely cheap for that size. I'm pretty sure there's a catch." Issin said skeptically. Dynamm shrugged, and ran towards the doors, revealing a main hall, with a open kitchen, with white tile floors. There was almost no furniture but still very extravagant.

"Yes!" The guild poured into the room, extremely excited. Asuna finally was able to cook to the full extent, not relying on campfires.

"You heard Kirito; let's go get furniture." Dale said, and walked out the doors.

* * *

"You're telling me, that Blinkstrike, is still your most powerful sword? After three months?" Kirito said skeptically, slightly annoying Lisbeth.

"News flash; I make other types of weapons. Like spears. Spears are a lot more popular that swords."

"This is Sword Art Online. Key word being 'sword'-"

"Do you want it or not?"she said tiredly. Kirito took the sword, complaining about it's light weight. Lisbeth got even more annoyed.

"Honestly, what's wrong with having a light sword?"

"Just that it doesn't hit hard." Lisbeth sighed.

"If you want a heavy weapon, you use a mace, or an axe. Not a sword." Kirito nodded.

"But-"

"Weight's actually a disadvantage, by many RPGs."

"Fine, give me the sword," Kirito looked at the silver-bladed weapon with disdain, and then opened a trade request.

* * *

"Yeah, good night." Silica yawned, and started to retire to the bedroom. Asuna nodded, and headed upstairs. She changed to comfortable light pink pyjamas, and collapsed on the bed, tired from lifting furniture into place. Her eyelids shut, and her thoughts drifted.

A Sword Skill sound effect chimed, activating her instincts.

"What the-" she rolled off the bed, and faced the intruder. A apparition stood at the foot of the bed, a white, ghostly woman, with black hair, and pale clothes, carrying a kitchen knife.

_[How dare you trespass my family's land!]_ the woman shrieked, scaring Silica out the door. Shouts of surprise filled the house.

"Ghosts!" he warned, trying desperately to navigate menus and equip his sword. A scabbard appeared on his hip, and he slashed at a ghost near him. Another ghost, now a young boy with a razor, walked towards him, seemingly unfazed by the strike, and Dynamm's blade phased through the body.

"It doesn't wor-" the boy slashed his neck, leaving a red gash.

"Out of the house!" Issin charged to the door, into the cool night air, ghosts forming a crowd, chasing them. Asuna was the first to leave, tumbling out, followed by Silica and others, with Kunimittz, the most damaged, straggling behind.

"What the hell was _that?!_ "

"Don't know. Side quest?" Dale suggested. Asuna muttered shakily, remarking that a apartment in lower levels were almost the same price as the manor.

"Asuna, you okay?"

"I hate astral-type monsters…" She looked up, seeing the ghosts at the door, gazing silently.

The sound of feet crunching dirt was behind her. She turned around, seeing a familiar dark red coat.

"Uh…" Kirito stammered, looking at the group on the grass. Some threw looks of fatigue, and Kunimittz was riddled with red wounds.

"Ghosts spawned while we were sleeping," Dale explained, "And we had to evacuate." Harry One continued.

"..8..9.. Where's my sister?!" Kirito recklessly busted in the house, disintegrating the ghosts guarding it.

"Wait, how?" Dynamm's jaw dropped at the sight of the ghosts dissolving. He chased after him, Asuna on his heels.

* * *

"Suguha, why didn't we go to the doors?" Recon asked Suguha. She had her katana out, still freshly shocked from the scare.

"I was nervous, and, well, you followed me anyway."

"After dragging you into the orange-cursor mess, I won't be leaving you anytime soon." Suguha smiled at the remark, but the corridor they were on, suddenly got dark, leaving one lantern Recon put on the floor, fighting back the dark just a bit.

Suguha stared nervously down the darkened hallway, sensing a danger among the shadows. She threw a knife, tipped with poison to the presence, hoping to slow it.

"I don't know if that poison will work!" Recon said, watching the opposite end of the hallway. They heard the knife thud against the floor, impaling through the wood.

The intruders attacked. Recon threw more knives, his 'emergency' ones with poison in the middle. It phased through the approaching apparitions.

"Suguha!" Kirito yelled, and ran towards first sight of her.

Right in front of the knives. He was pushed backwards by the force, and collapsed on the floor.

Unable to move.

Dynamm saw Kirito on the floor, and Dark Repulser. He grabbed the pale sword, and slashed across the ghosts, disintegrating them.

"Dark… _Repulser_. Now I get it." Asuna rounded the corner and saw Kirito paralyzed.

_"What?!"_ She poured a anti-debuff potion down his throat, and helped him up.

"Sorry…Kirito," Recon stuttered. Kirito stood up, eerily calm. "Kirito?" Dynamm asked him. Kirito pushed him aside, and grabbed Dark Repulser.

"I got _paralyzed_. Last I heard-" he grabbed Recon, and pushed him towards the wall, a blade pressed against his neck. "Laughing _Coffin_ did that! So tell me, how did you do that!"

"Kirito, stop that!" Suguha exclaimed, and pushed him away, defending Recon. "No, he's right." Recon stood up, head bowed down.

"I don't work with Laughing Coffin, but we used to."

"We? Suguha, you…" Kirito whimpered, looking at both of them, almost tearing up. She silently nodded.

"It's a long story."

"Tell me." Kirito whispered. Recon drew a deep breath, and began his tale.

* * *

The Death Game had begun. Suguha looked up in tears, daunted by the task ahead. Recon sniffed, croaking out a apology.

"Sorry for bringing you into this."

"You didn't know." Suguha replied. She consoled herself, and wiped her face of any tears.

"What next?"

"Grind. Try to raise our level."

"Maybe we should try to find my brother, he's a beta tester,"

"There are nine thousand people around us. It's going to take a while to find your brother. Besides, we need to train up as soon as possible." Suguha nodded. "I guess you're right."

* * *

"But why didn't you find me?" Kirito asked him harshly, a steely look in his eyes.

"Kirito, I think it's time to sleep." Asuna reminded him, with Dynamm quietly agreeing. "You can, but not me. Dynamm, take Dark Repulser, kill the rest of the ghosts here. There must be a way to stop them from appearing, because I have a feeling they're not going to stop. Find any weapons among the guild that it's name seems to be anti-astral type monsters. Go." Kirito fired out orders calmly, still looking at the two orange players.

"…okay." Dynamm ran off.

"Kirito, I have to talk to you." Asuna grabbed his arm, and pulled him back.

"What is it?"

"We'll leave you alone with them, but, don't do anything stupid." She explained nervously, twirling her hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Just, if you're really sad, don't run off again. I know I said that you can take time off, but-"

"But why not?" Kirito asked softly, his hard look turning to a curious one.

"Because..." She paused, looking at the floor. " _Justdon'tdoit_." Asuna blushed and rambled quickly, and headed out. Kirito took the word into account, and then faced the two.

"Continue,"

* * *

_A month later from First Day_

Thousands died. On the first month. A shaken duo walked on a dirt path, discouraged from the sight they saw from their previous destination. A giant field, filled with players, each desperately to grind. All monsters were taken. They moved from village to village, hoping for levelling opportunities. Both barely reached Level 5.

Recon looked ahead for any enemies. Wolves took off from the bushes, sprinting at them.

"Watch out!" she looked up, and brought up the basic Scimitar. The pack hit them like a storm, rapidly depleting health. Their health reached the red, and the feral creatures never relented, until they disintegrated from a unknown party. Recon saw the man. A man with a chiseled jaw, and brown skin, with some other members, with one in a mask, and another in a dark hood.

"All of you okay?" he said in a stern voice, sheathing a dagger. The two victims nodded.

"Thanks for the rescue," Suguha said hesitantly, causing him to smile.

"No problem. I'm PoH. The two guys behind me are XaXa," he pointed to the one in the mask, "And Johnny Black." He pointed to the one in the hood.

"Well, anyway, thanks."

"Wait." PoH said, and Recon froze in fear. Suguha slowly turned around, cautiously.

"We came here to, _rob_ you actually, so, do me a favour, and give us all your stuff." His two party members started to surround them.

"What if we don't?" Suguha quivered. To think they actually caught up!

"We kill you. Pretty simple, really. Or, maybe…" PoH pretended to be in deep thought.

"Or what?"

"You join us. We need more people to surround players. That, or all of your items."

Recon and Suguha looked at each other.

* * *

"Okay, so you joined an _orange_ guild?"

"Not willingly. They just wanted us to stay quiet and surround players we robbed. If we said anything, they would've killed us. They were literally better than us in every way." His sister explained.

"And we didn't actually kill anyone, or at least, before he preached his ideas."

"What ideas?"

"That it was okay to kill players."

* * *

_Floor 1- Horunka Village Tavern_

The orange members held a New Year's Eve party, with PoH preaching about his philosophy with other orange players.

"How is it okay?" Recon shouted to PoH. The group has grown to thirty members, all from orange guilds.

"The system allows us to. And besides, it's not like there's proof people actually die," he reasoned. Recon scowled.

"You're insane," PoH grabbed his arm.

"Leave if you want to!" he offered. Recon turned away. XaXa laughed. "Oh right, you're too weak!" Recon walked outside, with Suguha on a bench.

"How's the party?"

"'Party'," Recon said sarcastically with air quotes. "Bastard's was just spreading his ridiculous idea. We should escape."

"Escape? Look at us; we only have gear barely better than the starting set." Suguha responded.

"What's the party about anyway?"

"Something about discovering a new potion. I stolen their copy of the recipe and replicated it, then put it back." Recon admitted.

"Do you know it's effects?" she asked, deep into the subject.

"Dunno, wasn't in the note. Also, they said something about making a message." Recon added.

The members burst out of the tavern, seemingly with a plan. Johnny Black dragged the two up, and forced to follow them.

"Wait, what are we doing?"

"Announcing ourselves." The member grinned. They went to the outskirts of the floor, and spotted a guild, having a party out in the field, and very few passerby. They all crouched down, and brought up throwing knives.

The duo stayed silent, scared of what's to come. A flurry of knives were unleashed by the orange group, hitting the guild members, forcing them down to the ground.

"Help!"

"I can't move!"

The orange group sprang into action, stabbing the helpless players. They both stood in fear from the sadistic actions. And Recon found out the effects of the potion.

Paralysis.

The players died one by one, exploding into polygons. Bystanders screamed, it was utter chaos. And they were in the middle of it.

"Let it be known!" PoH shouted. "We are Laughing Coffin!"

* * *

"Laughing Coffin started out, as an _orange guild?_ " Kirito yelled. Both of them nodded.

"Yeah, we were pretty much puppets." Suguha admitted.

"We escaped while they were..busy. We still had to join another orange guild, but they didn't kill."

Kirito stood up, and walked away.

"Wait, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to the Divine Dragon Alliance Headquarters."

"What's there?"

"They're leading a crusade. Against Laughing Coffin. I thought they can handle themselves, but now,"

"You want to join," Suguha finished. Kirito wordlessly walked away to the exit.

"Fine. We're coming with you." Recon decided, making him stop. "Stay here." he warned. Recon squinted.

"No, we're not. We want to fight against them!"

"Yeah, we're finally strong enough! They killed hundreds of people!" Suguha agreed. The dual-wielder reconsidered their request.

"I don't know about this. What if they recognize you?"

"So what if they do? They're going to be imprisoned anyway!"

"Just please, don't…"

"We're coming with you, whether you like it or not." Suguha affirmed their intentions. Kirito turned around, his hand on his face.

"Fine. But be careful, and always be behind me." Kirito then walked out towards the doors.

"Ghosts, family land. Does that ring a bell?" Dynamm said frustratingly to the NPC vendor on the front of the manor. The AI shook it's head.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," the vendor said for like the millionth time. Dynamm really wanted to punch him.

"Maybe you should put it in a proper sentence first, then it kicks in," Klein said, the only one awake enough to assist Dynamm on the quest. The rest of the guild slept in a nearby inn.

"When does that ever work?" he said through gritted teeth towards Klein in a condescending tone.

"Dynamm, here; I forgot to give you this. The ghosts dropped it when I killed them." Kirito tossed to him a bottle.

[Ectoplasm].

"Alright. There are ghosts in my house!" Dynamm shouted, holding the bottle right next to his face. The NPC stepped back in shock.

"I am sorry sir, I didn't know of this unforeseen circumstance," he bowed down. Dynamm turned his head to thank Kirito, but he was already on his way to a teleport gate.

"Kirito, where are you going?" Klein asked.

"Nowhere. Keep going on the quest,"

"Right. ' _Nowhere_ '"Dynamm said with air quotes.

"Might as well tell them," Recon said. Kirito took a deep breath.

"We're going to take down Laughing Coffin."

"Just you three?" Dynamm asked dryly.

"Along with the DDA. They have been suggesting a crusade against them recently."

"Well, I'm coming along. Klein, finish the quest." Dynamm tossed him the bottle. The man in question dropped his jaw. "Wha? Why? I'm coming along too!" Kirito facepalmed.

"Fine! Klein, find someone else in the guild to do the sidequest. But don't tell them anything about the crusade."

"On it."

Kirito saw him go towards a nearby inn, before heading to the teleport gate.

"Right."

* * *

Klein went inside the inn's second floor. He went to a door and knocked.

"Asuna?"

The girl opened her eyes slowly, staying frozen. She looked outside the window, looking at the moonlight.

"What?"

"We need you to do the quest to get rid of the ghosts,"

"I thought you and Dynamm did that?"

"Well, uh… we have to leave!" Klein said through the door.

"Why? And how's Kirito?"

"Uh…" Klein paused.

_Oh crap!_ He thought to himself, quickly trying to analyze possible solutions.

"We um… We is…" he slowly crumbled to the floor, unable to think of anything.

The door opened. Asuna looked at the kneeling samurai.

"Where are they?"

"They're… going to take down Laughing Coffin," Klein admitted, unable to lie.

" _What?!"_

"Quiet!" Kunimittz called out from the room next to hers. She winced, and went out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"Alone?"

"No, not alone. Apparently DDA was planning it for weeks. They want to join up."

"They?"

"Suguha, Recon, and Dynamm came with him. I don't know why they're going." He explained. She nodded and opened up menus, putting on her red-white armor.

"Right. I'm going with them." She started to walk away.

"Asuna, they can handle themselves. Why do you keep thinking you have to protect him, to duel for him? He's a beta tester!" Klein asked her, stopping her progress. "What, so you don't care about them?" she shot back, not faxing Klein one bit.

"Of course I do. But you also need to have faith in his abilities. Let him go. We still have to clear the ghosts out." Klein half lectured. Asuna hesitated to move on, but steeled herself.

"I have to make sure. Sorry Klein, but find someone else." She said softly, filled with remorse, leaving Klein disappointed.

A door opened, revealing Kunimittz.

"Did you-" Klein was cut short.

"Heard everything. And, well, I friggin' knew it."

* * *

They arrived at the foot of the Divine Dragon Alliance's headquarters. A castle with thick iron shod walls, towers at each corner, and at each side of the drawbridge, and a moat.

"Here Kirito, Dark Repulser." Dynamm handed him the pale blade, with Kirito putting it in his right shoulder sheath.

"Thanks. Better hope there's another weapon that can kill those ghosts." Kirito started walking up to the edge of the moat, shouting at a sentry on a tower.

"We want to join the battle against Laughing Coffin!" he yelled at his loudest voice possible. The sentries nodded, and started to raise a drawbridge, revealing the space inside. Barracks, and other building were inside, with a grand castle within.

"The KoB tower may be bigger, but holy crap!" Dynamm commented. Once they got inside the castle, there was a meeting room, with a circular table, with…

No one apparently.

In fact, no one was out, except for guards, but other than that, everyone was sleeping.

"What are you guys here for?" A nearby guard asked them.

"We're… joining the crusade against Laughing Coffin." Kirito explained to the bored guard.

"Fine. Are you Cleare-" the guard noticed the twin swords on his back.

"Obviously. Alright, sleep anywhere here, in the lobby , and don't touch anything. You're not the first ones here."

The guard took his leave. Kirito scanned the area of any previous visitors, and saw the Moonlit Black Cats in bedrolls.

"Keita?!"

"What?" he snorted awake. "Oh, Kirito, hey!" Keita greeted him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Signing up for the crusade. It was really hard convincing them we were Clearers, but we got Kotaru to get us in."

"Any reason why?" Kirito asked, surprised he was here in the first place.

"Laughing Coffin gave us hell. They stole from a lot of mid-level players, and at the time, well…, y'know." Keita responded in a low voice.

"Sorry about that," Suguha added. Keita smiled.

"Well, it's time they got some payback!"

"How do I get rid of the ghosts on my land?" Kunimittz shouted to the NPC vendor.

* * *

"You need to find the original deed to it. It was lost, but people say…" Klein watched the NPC blab on.

"Fetch quest. Damn it," Kunimittz groaned.

"Where's the deed?"

"Buried with the original owner, in a cave north from here." The NPC responded. Klein stretched and yawned.

"Do we need to do this now? It's midnight."

"Kirito said to do this as soon as possible,"

"Yeah, but we're exhausted. Sword Skills makes us even more tired. And no doubt is the cave packed with monsters. "

"Good point. But still-" Klein hesitated.

"The manor was extremely cheap. This quest is going to be hard as hell. Might as well have the guild for backup,"

"Fine. You're right, this isn't the time for late night quests. I'm going to Kirito." Klein decided.

"Hypocrite."

"Alright, shut up! I won't." Klein demanded. Kunimittz had a extremely smug smirk on his face. They started to walk back to the nearby town.

"Hey, do you ever wonder what Akihiko Kayaba's doing?" he asked Klein.

"I guess managing the game. I don't know if he'll ever get caught though."

"Why's that?"

"He's holding thousands of people hostage. I'm pretty sure that when the police try to capture him, he's going to pull the plug." Klein answered.

"You know, this MMO's actually really fun." Kunimittz looked around the crafted landscape. "If only we weren't trapped here."

* * *

Kirito woke up, looking at the vaulted ceiling. It was probably early in the morning, the dark blue sky showing through the window. The rest were still sleeping, but the Black Cats were nowhere to be seen. He turned around to his side, facing Asuna's resting face, inches from his nose. His head jumped backwards.

"Oh, geez," he whispered, and slowly got up. "Why the hell are you here?" he muttered, careful not to awaken anybody. He then kicked her legs softly, coaxing her to wake up. When her eyes opened, he pointed towards the entrance.

"We have to talk."

Once they got outside, Kirito was the first to talk.

"Did Klein send you?"

"Oh! Uh, no. In fact, he opposed me."

"Then why did you come here? Why did Klein tell you where we're going?"

"I think Klein tried to lie, but gave up," After that line, Kirito groaned. "What's wrong of me joining you?" Asuna continued.

"Well, it's just that, I don't know how to say this, um…" Asuna watched Kirito stammer a little bit, trying to phrase his sentence right.

"What I'm trying to say is, why are you so… interested in me?" Asuna reddened at the question.

"N..Not like that, I mean," Kirito stuttered, from her embarrassed expression. "I mean, why do you keep defending me?" Asuna sighed, trying to calm herself.

"Like when?"

"Duelling that guy at KoB because I disagreed with him. Klein says the reason he tracked me, was because you insisted. Not that I'm complaining about it, but, still. And, well, following me here." Kirito explained. Asuna sweated, looking at the grass. She stood up.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"You want me to leave, right?" She said halfheartedly, walking to the exit. "No, that's not what I meant," he scratched his head.

"What's wrong with defending you?" she responded. "Anybody in the guild would do the same thing."

"You volunteer first though. Why do you?" he questioned back. Asuna burst out.

"It's because I…" Kirito looked at her even more, with a confused look. And she held back.

"Never mind." She turned around to the gate. "Wait! I didn't say you had to leave!" He said hastily, reaching out to her. "You didn't need to." She replied simply. He winced, and ran to her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Don't leave, I need you here." Asuna hid a smile on that comment, and turned around.

"Alright. I'll stay." Kirito let out a sigh. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Asuna walked towards the castle with a cheerful look, Kirito watching her walk away.

* * *

_Floor 50_

Keita lead his guild through the metal city of Granzam, finally arriving at the steel gates of the Knights of the Blood Oath's headquarters.

"I don't know if they want to join the crusade," Sasamaru said skeptically, "If they did, I'm sure they would voluntarily join."

"Dude, don't be like that! I'm pretty sure they're going to join!" Ducker patted his back. They met with a guard.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We need to see a sub-leader here." Keita stated. "You can't just go in, y'know. They're training." The guard explained.

"DDA's going to eliminate Laughing Coffin! Aren't you gonna join?" Tetsuo added.

"Wait, seriously?! Alright, Heathcliff's on top of the tower." He pointed at the huge stone tower, with four spires.

They walked into the lobby, and no one was inside, all of the soldiers were grinding. A teleport crystal was in the side, along with a list of the levels of the tower and their function.

[To go to a specific level of the tower grasp the crystal and say the desired level.] A popup said.

Keita was about to grasp it, but then a Sub-Leader went inside, a brown-haired man, with a white cloak, and a big shield.

"Oh, can I talk to you?" Tetsuo stopped the red armor clad knight.

"Do I know you?" he said uncertainly, stepping back a little bit. "Oh, no you don't. We're here to tell you that DDA is leading a crusade against Laughing Coffin, and do you want to join?" The knight paid attention when the red guild was mentioned.

"You're in this… crusade?"

"Oh, yes. Are you interested?"

"I'm not sure. We should've heard about this news sooner." The knight muttered. Then held out his hand.

"I'm Barry. Thanks for telling me. When is the crusade?"

"Around 3, are you coming?"

"Again, I'm not sure. Heathcliff's been training a lot, and we only see him when we're fighting bosses, or on meetings. I don't know if I can track him down, and get him to agree and send people."

* * *

Kirito watched the DDA warriors train and get ready for the oncoming fight. He sat against a wall, along with his guild.

"Let's see if we can get some food from them," Dynamm said, hungry and with no food from the ill-prepared journey.

"No, I got some," Asuna announced, and opening up her menus. He was still a little freaked out that she tracked them. Suguha and Recon couldn't really care less, focused on the task at hand.

She handed out rudimentary sandwiches, in which Kirito bit down instantly.

"Needs a bit of work. Nonexistent sauce, too little lettuce, too much meat and cheese, tomatoes suck, and there are way too much onions," Kirito critiqued through a mouthful of food. Recon began to drink copious amounts of water, and Suguha just smelled it, and put it back into it's wrap.

"I'll get some food from them," Dynamm got up after seeing everyone's reactions.

"Well, it's my first time making these," she muttered.

"I can tell." Kirito said dryly, earning a eye roll from her. A man nudged Kirito with his foot.

"Hey, we're setting off in five hours," the man, who was a guard, notified him.

"We got some time to burn. Any ideas?" Dynamm said.

"All of you should go levelling."

"I… no."

"Why not?"

"Well, last time we left you, you were gone for a long time," Dynamm replied. "That's true.." Asuna added.

"I needed some space,"

"You took three months. I expected a week, even two, but not three months!" Asuna argued back.

"You encouraged me,"

"We had to send Klein to get you back," Asuna said.

"I was going to go back, but if you want to know…I had to train up my Dual Blades skill, so I took some more time."

"Did you absolutely had to though?" Asuna asked.

"If he didn't train it up, the 74th floor boss would've survived long enough to kill a lot of people." Recon said.

"Do you just want me to go with you guys?" Kirito groaned.

"Yes." Asuna and Dynamm clarified at the same time. "You're always the silent and brooding type. You barely talk to us, other than the daily meeting."

"Wha- hey! That's not true!" Kirito stammered, much to their sniggering.

"When was the last time you talked to Dale? Issin? Kunimittz? Harry One and Two? Me?" Dynamm fired off.

"At the 74th boss battle, all of them-"

"Outside battles, Kirito." Asuna enforced.

"Well, not really." He admitted. Dynamm chuckled. "Told you," he said smugly, getting up. "Let's go."

* * *

"Do we absolutely have to go questing right now?" Kunimittz whined, much to Klein's annoyance. "We did what you suggested, so get your lazy ass up!" "But I got like, six hours of sleep! Barebones!"

"It's thirty past ten. Shut up. We'll be taking the rest of the guild by the way." Klein replied casually. The discouraged man sat up, and opened his menu, equipping armor and a spear.

"It gets a little repetitive, doesn't it? Levelling and grinding." Klein asked him. "It took you two years to realize this?" Kunimittz drawled sarcastically. "Well, no, but there was a lot of stuff to do, like go on quests, get a skill," Klein explained, then leaned back on the wall.

"After clearing the house quest, let's relax. Screw mapping dungeons; we spent two years doing that!" Kunimittz suggested. Klein nodded.

* * *

2 hours later…

"I can't find Heathcliff," Barry said to Keita worriedly, panting from searching the forests.

"Can you still go?"

"The other two Sub Leaders don't want me to go, unless I have XP quotas to fill,"

"XP quotas?"

"I have to gain a certain minimum amount of XP per day, so I need to level a lot for the next three hours." He started to open up menus.

"Whoa- party request?" Keita exclaimed at the popup in front of him. "Yeah; I can't fight alone, right? I'll be your forward."

Tetsuo started going nuts from the proposition.

* * *

3 hours later…

Floor 14 Outskirts

Kirito has never been as tense in his life. The crusade party walked in the forest, pursuing Laughing Coffin. Their base has been revealed by a survivor of a guild they targeted to kill. Supposedly, they lived in a safe zone in a dungeon.

Considering the amount of messengers that died around here, it's probable, a DDA sub leader thought.

"Do you know where's the Black Cats?" Kirito whispered to his guild. "Yeah, I do, I just didn't tell you!" Dynamm said sarcastically, but the dry meaning was lost in the tension.

The front of the party stopped, startled by what's ahead. A cloaked player blocked the path in.

The red cursor lingered above him.

"Stand down!" the DDA warrior leading the crusade boomed. The cloaked man raised his head, chuckling.

"We killed your messengers. Do you seriously think we'll still do that?!" he laughed, angering the leader further. The rest of the group stayed silent, but mentally readied themselves. The leader walked forward, shield raised, three men following him. The Laughing Coffin member's face turned from smug to serious.

"Back off!" he said, but the DDA leader kept walking. The man then casually took out a carved wooden whistle.

Kirito stepped beside Asuna, twin blades held with outstretched arms.

BEEP!

The shrill sound ran through everyone's ears, and almost instantly, half were down paralyzed from a storm of poisoned throwing knives.

" _SHIT!_ " the DDA leader yelled, and started aiding paralyzed allies, abandoning his target.

The phantoms leaped and ambushed the crusaders, blades clashing. The Laughing Coffin members are unusually high-level, and almost equaled the Clearers.

Polygons disintegrated to the air, signalling the deaths of crusaders.

Kirito went on a spree, dual blades cutting through Laughing Coffin members, killing them.

The red guild did not relent. They knew that they would either be arrested, or killed. Most of them believed that the death rule didn't exist, and that Player Killing was allowed for a reason.

However, PoH did believe. He saw the members of his guild start to lose their element of surprise from the better-equipped Clearers.

"Hey!" Keita yelled, attracting attention. His guild ran behind him, in an effort to shore up defences. Barry and Tetsuo ran forward.

The Laughing Coffin members saw the Knight of the Blood Oath , and knew they wouldn't win. Barry's guild was the leading group of the Clearers for a reason.

"Get him!" A member called out, and five broke off the main fight, activating Sword Skills at Barry. The man looked at the incoming assassins, and tightened up. He blocked the speeding blades, and turned around to face them.

Kirito saw the Black Cats busy with their skirmish, and surveyed the battle. The crusaders were hesitant to kill them, but they kept them at bay, trying to pin them down and arrest them. Some were already forcefully pushed to the dirt by Clearers, but relatively few in number.

When the crusader death count reached ten, the DDA sub-leader yelled.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

The warriors cut loose, after seeing their comrades die, they can take revenge.

Dynamm duelled a member, going back and forth.

"Surrender!"

The member, a man wearing a trench coat, stabbed his dagger at the side of Dynamm's gut. He retaliated, decapitating his arm, and pushing him to the ground, sword pointed at his face. Dynamm's face drained when he saw his victim's health fall. He quickly took out a potion to heal him, but the assassin refused to accept it.

"Shit." The bandana wearing man whispered, when his enemy disintegrated. He sat there for a moment, contemplating the situation. A Sword Skill chimed behind him, and he turned around, slashing behind him.

Barry looked around at the five brown-coated men. The rest of the party was paralyzed, and abandoned for the more experienced target.

Him.

Kirito saw his situation, and dashed forward, followed by Asuna.

All five men went forward to try and stab Barry. He blocked two with his shield, and knocked away another with his sword, but two blades pierced his armor. Kirito knocked the invaders away.

"Back off!" Kirito said warningly, twin blades in display. Three kept their distance, but the rest tried again. He slashed in a wide arc, both blades going in different directions. The two were repelled, and disintegrated.

"Pin them down!" he shouted to his group, and Suguha, Recon and Dynamm arrested one each, taking down the last three members still not arrested, or not dead. Asuna came to his aid. The battle was over.

"Heal them." He jerked a thumb to the Black Cats, then knelt beside Barry.

"Are you okay?!" Kirito quickly took out a red bottle. Barry's HP drained alarmingly fast, and a green icon was beside his HP bar.

"Health-draining poison," the red knight said, "They had more tricks up their sleeve than we thought." Kirito poured the potion down his throat, but there was no effect.

" _Asuna! Health Crystal!_ " Kirito shouted, his voice cracking. Asuna threw him one, and he was starting to crack it when…

The poison effect stopped. The poison apparently drained a certain amount of health, then stopped. 100 HP was still left, and was regaining by Battle Healing.

Kirito felt all the tension release. A knife suddenly appeared at Barry's side, and he started to shed off polygons.

"No!" He cracked the crystal, but Barry's HP was already at 0. "Klein, the stone-" Kirito looked around desperately.

Recon looked at where the knife came from. There was one more member of the red guild.

And he was escaping.

Recon let go of his inmate, and pursued the killer. They ran to a dungeon, and Recon was catching up. Asuna ran past him, and they were closing in. Monsters started to spawn right in front however.

They killed the creatures as fast as they could, but they were swarmed.

"We can't get to him!" she yelled, and Kirito caught up, eliminating the opposition, and DDA players followed. Recon started running again, and the escapee started to choose paths from a split in the path.

"Left!" Once they turned, their target was already halfway to the next split, teleport crystal in hand.

"He's gonna lose us!" a DDA scout yelled. Recon took out a throwing knife. "Should I?!" Recon asked Kirito.

_If he escapes, he can start a new Laughing Coffin…_

"Yes!"

The knife whirled towards his back, and he collapsed.

"Wait, what happened?" Asuna went beside the assassin.

"I'm paralyzed." He cackled, knowing what's going to happen. "Who threw that?!" he continued. Asuna lifted his hood, showing a bone mask, depicting a skull.

PoH. The leader.

"What's your name again? Recon? It's been two years! Where's the other one?" PoH said, creating tension. The DDA scout took out a dagger at Recon. "You're with Laughing Coffin?"

"Let me explain!" the brown haired boy raised his hands. The rest of the crusade party caught up. Suguha went beside him.

"What's this about?!"

"He paralyzed him!" the scout pointed at PoH.

"We can arrest him now!"

"He knows! He knows how to kill like them!" the scout shouted, and the crusade party started to take out weapons.

"Enough!" the Sub-Leader boomed. "Arrest him!" he commanded the scout, and he started to walk to PoH.

"You're in Fūrin Kazan. Where's the leader?" Kirito started to walk forward.

"What is it?"

"Your friend. You have to surrender him."

"No." Kirito replied simply. "It's complicated. But he's not a threat."

"How is he not? He has to join Laughing Coffin to learn that!"

"Alright, I'll explain-"

"The fact that he knows, means that we have to keep an eye on him."

"You are not sending him on a dungeon!"

"Wait- you are very calm. You knew that he can do that, didn't you?!" he accused Kirito, and he stayed silent.

"Do you know how to paralyze? Maybe your whole guild does!"

"We're Clearers! We fought with you for almost two years!" the DDA leader shook his head, and pointed at Recon.

"Well, surrender him. Or else." He unsheathed his sword, and his guild was ready. The Black Cats started to separate from the crowd.

"Or else what?" Keita asked, sword and shield ready, his guild joining up. Kirito's twin blades glowed blue, right in front of the armored man, ready to activate a Sword Skill.

"He's not part of Laughing Coffin." Kirito warned.

"We have to be sure." The man swung his sword at Kirito. He immediately reacted with a storm of blades, whirling around, glowing. He finished the 10-hit combo, blasting him to the air.

The DDA sub-leader was the leader of the forwards, and known to be one of the best players defensively. The rest of the DDA looked at their leader, his health at the red zone.

"Take out the teleport crystals." Kirito commanded. The DDA leader got up.

"Escape and we'll _find_ you!" The words rang in his head,but he shook it off.

"Teleport: Corinth!" Kirito yelled, and his guild teleported to the capital city of Floor 75.

 

 


	12. Runaway

_Floor 75 Main City- Corinth_

They ran through the streets, half a dozen DDA scouts on their heels. Asuna in front, pushed players and NPCs past, heading for the city bounds.

"Get out of the safe zone!" Kirito yelled, unsheathing two blades from his back. The city limits were rapidly closing in, and the scouts still followed.

"Don't head directly to the house! I'll take care of the DDA! No, Asuna, don't stay!" Kirito went past the city limits , and turned around, and faced the lightly armored warriors. Two came at him, activating Sword Skills. He crossed his swords, blocking the scouts' attacks, as they went past him. Four more scouts tried to attack him, and he dodged out of the way. The DDA players started to surround him. Kirito glanced at his guildmates, already far away.

_Why aren't they pursuing them?_ Kirito thought, and an obvious thought hit his head. _Oh, right, I'm the leader._

The scouts edged closer, and Kirito was caught in a familiar situation again.

But the guild wasn't at his back. A few players started taking interest in the standoff.

"Surrender!" A scout in better armor than the rest called out. Kirito just glared at him.

"3!" The leader counted, syncing up his Sword Skill with the rest, attacking all at once.

"2!" Kirito breathed in, calming himself down.

"1!" Don't make the same mistake as last time, he thought, and clenched his teeth. A barrage of attacks were launched against him, and his HP was reduced extremely fast. Kirito went one by one, hitting a certain point in one enemy's sword and disintegrating it, and went for another target, all while ignoring the attacks. Kirito smashed the last one, effectively disarming all of the scouts in less than 15 seconds. He looked at his HP.

[100/22000]

Kirito looked around at the now helpless scouts, his dual swords waving around menacingly, red digital lacerations dotted throughout his body. One scout started to run back to the town, followed by another, and soon they were running.

Asuna peeked through, the window, and saw Kirito sprint back, constantly looking back. He opened the door slowly.

"I has be something to tell you," he looked a little downtrodden.

"What?"

"We have to sell the house."

" _What?!_ " the whole guild burst.

"I didn't know we were going to sell it!"

"We just finished the house quest!"

Kirito winced at everyone's response.

"Calm down!" Kirito shouted. Everyone shut up from Kirito's loudest voice outside of battle.

"We're going to have to sell the house, and quickly. Trust me." The guild started to get their stuff from storage chests.

"Alright, you better have a good reason."

They went to the NPC vendor and sold the house.

"25 million Col. Alright. Update armor, weapons, and potions from the guild vault. Then meet me at Floor 22." Kirito saw some blue knights in a distance.

"Teleport crystals! Use it to travel! Buy some more!" he shouted urgently, and the knights started to pursue them.

"One more thing; clear out your friends list!"

* * *

_Floor 45_

_"_ We'll see all of your best weapons. And do you sell potions?"

"A few potions, not that much. Weapons, though," she took out an armful of weapons.

"You guys look sad. What's the problem?" Lisbeth asked. Klein looked up.

"We don't have a house. And then we bought one! And then we sold it." Klein replied.

"Why did you sell it?"

"Kirito said to trust him. I don't know why, but he probably has a good reason." Lisbeth nodded.

"I know why we have to leave." Dynamm announced. Recon tensed up. "But I'm going to let Kirito tell us." He sighed, and rubbed his head.

"Asuna, do you know what happened?"

"Please don't ask."

"Well, good luck about that," Lisbeth said.

* * *

_Floor 22 Outskirts_

Kirito opened the door. A couch, a coffee table, and two living chairs were in front of him. A glass sliding door was beyond the chairs, leading to a patio. To the right, there was a fairly large circular table, and a kitchen. There was a door leading to a bedroom with two beds.

Their hideout.

He lumbered to a chair and slumped on it, staring at the wooden walls.

"What am I going to do?" he talked to himself. He felt his eyelids drop.

Two knocks came from the door.

He jerked awake out of the chair, gripping both of his sword's hilts.

The knocks repeated. Kirito quickly opened the door a bit, peeking.

"Geez, you're really nervous, aren't you?" Klein pushed the door open. They poured into the small room.

"We'll be living in a log cabin now?" Silica asked.

"How much did it cost?" Dale asked. "20 million Col," Kirito responded. "And no quest to complete it."

"Now, I probably have to tell you why we're doing this,"

"You think?" Kunimittz muttered.

"Recon, tell your story." The boy in question sighed, and drew breath. "Actually, I'll do it." Suguha suggested, taking weight off his shoulders.

"Get on with it please."

* * *

_Floor 14 Field Dungeon_

Keita stared at the DDA leader, hearing Fūrin Kazan teleport away.

"You helped them!" the blue knight shouted.

"You were going to fight them!" Keita responded.

"The boy knew the poison! He needs to be taken in!"

"Honestly, if anybody in your guild knew how to make the poison, would you imprison him?" Keita shot back. The DDA started to bow their head, as if in respect. Keita scrunched his eyes in confusion.

"Yes, we would." The sullen leader replied softly.

"Did something happen?"

"A month ago, two Laughing Coffin members infiltrated our guild. They killed the main leader, and killed all the sub-leaders. I wasn't a sub-leader at the time. I don't trust anybody that might've had contact with the red guild. "

"I'm pretty sure Kirito isn't an idiot-"

"Kirito's the name of the Fūrin Kazan leader? Well, he doesn't understand. The infiltrator will turn on him in any moment. And you helped him escape."

Keita looked at the leader nervously, but still stood his ground.

"Arrest them!" DDA warriors started to circle the Black Cats.

"What?!" Tetsuo yelled, and they started to charge up Sword Skills, but were tackled before they could've attacked. People started holding their hands down, confiscating weapons, and the leader took out a Corridor Crystal.

"Crap."

* * *

_Floor 22_

"So, that's what happened," Issin muttered. "Now we're in trouble because Recon used a poisoned throwing knife to paralyze the Laughing Coffin leader from running away. They want to imprison him now."

"Well it would make sense to think he's an infiltrator." The whole guild stared at Issin in shock.

"But he captured the leader! So that balances it out, I guess."

"This is why we're here. To hide from them. Now take out some bedrolls or something. Big day ahead." Kirito announced, and went to the bedroom. It was still thirty past 3.

What should I do? He laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Klein entered.

"Hey."

"Hey. I'm taking the second bed." Klein responded, and sat down on his bed. "Your sister's sleeping outside. The guy with the staff-"

"Recon?"

"Yeah, he… left. Asuna's using the kitchen. Everyone else is taking a walk."

"Okay." Kirito opened his menu. His old black coat started to replace the dark red one.

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

"We need to eliminate any signs we're in a guild." Kirito replied. Klein groaned. "This is taking it too far. Asuna! Kirito doesn't want to wear the red coat!"

"Do you know how many dragons we had to _kill_ for that?" Asuna asked. "Do you know how many dragons _I_ had to kill for my coat?" Kirito shot back. Klein scoffed.

"You battled Blackwyrms. We attacked Redwyrms, a much higher tier. What do you think we were doing while you were gone for three months?"

"I'll put the coat back on, okay! But what are we going to do with mine?" he presented the problem. Asuna smiled.

"I'll take it to Lisbeth."

"It's a coat. You have to sew that, not make it in a forge!"

"Fine. Klein, un-sew it."

"I can't sew."

"And you expect me to believe you bought that new headband of yours? With our guild's logo?"

"Fine, geez." Kirito put the red coat back on and handed him the folded black coat. Klein got scissors from his inventory, and the coat transformed into a pile of bones and scales. "I'll take this to Lisbeth." Asuna grabbed the pile, and went out the door.

* * *

Recon sat on the dock, with a mortar and pestle. He looked at the sun, halfway to the horizon, and continued crushing ingredients, turning it into dust. He then poured it onto a bottle of water, put in a cork, and shook it. The liquid glowed green, and turned red.

"What's that?" Silica asked. Recon jumped.

"Oh! This is a potion." He raised the bottle up. "This restores your health."

"How much HP?"

"50% of your HP, no matter how much you have."

"Well that's nice!"

"You need to complete the Drug Mixing skill to make the paralysis poison; I used the skill ever since Floor 1." Recon explained, and tossed the potion to her. "You can keep it."

"Is there any potions that benefit familiars?"

"I don't know. I mean, it's not that they can evolve,"

"Pina has an XP bar! Maybe he can-"

"It's not Pokemon!" Recon exclaimed, much to Silica's chagrin. "Anything's possible! Like the thing that can revive players!" she brightened.

"That's not real. You can't revive players-"

"Yeah, we can. We have the Divine Stone of Returning Soul, we beat DDA to it. Or at least, Klein told me. I wasn't with them at the time. Klein could show it to you, actually."

"Alright, fine. Maybe we can 'evolve' it. Apparently, there's a potion, that could force a level-up. It's only a rumour though, and it's not that I know what the ingredients are. And I don't know if familiars drink potions."

"Familiars do drink them. I'll find out." Silica walked away.

"Wait, your familiar. How strong is it?" Recon asked. Silica brought the small dragon from her head. The little creature snuggled up to her quietly.

"Pina can heal me, and breath fire, but the attack isn't that great. Dynamm said that I could only count on her as support. Issin said I can use her as a distraction while I hide." Recon noticed Silica describe the familiar as 'her'.

"Well, I'll try to find out the ingredients." Recon watched Silica walk away.

* * *

"How long do you think we're gonna be here guys?" Dale asked. Issin shrugged. "Probably when we get this problem sorted out. The real question is how." Kunimittz nodded.

"I can't believe we're in this mess. Did Kirito really have to join the crusade? Did Recon have to capture the leader like that?"

"Relax. We'll get through it."

"The Divine Dragon Alliance is the second largest guild. The Aincrad Liberation Force is the largest. DDA's at least 20 times larger than us."

"Not that we _asked_ for that info dump, Issin." Kunimittz replied dryly.

"Just to show you what we're facing." He shrugged. Harry Two kicked some dust in the trail.

"Damn it! We had a really big house, a reputation!" We were the Elementals!"

"We were only called that like, three times, you know that right?" Dale asked him.

"Still!" he interjected. "He should've told us first! He should've brought us with him!"

"We outnumbered Laughing Coffin." Dynamm stated. Harry Two scratched his head. "Oh."

"We have to deal with it." Harry One told his brother. "Complaining won't help." They looked at each other.

"I guess."

Kunimittz's head jerked to the side, scanning for movement.

"What is it?" Issin questioned his behavior.

"Do you see that?!" he yelled, attracting the attention if other guild mates.

"Seriously, what is it?" Dale said in a bored voice.

"Over there!" Kunimittz pointed vaguely at the forest. Dale looked beyond the trees, and saw the sheen of black hair.

"Holy shit." Dale gripped his greatsword hilt. "Issin, Searching skill! Scan the forest!"

"Fine, fine." Issin's eyes and vision turned green. His enhanced vision marked out a person hidden among the trees, highlighting the silhouette.

"There's a girl there! I can't see the colour cursor, but get ready!" he quickly pointed his spear forward. Everyone quickly went into formation. A small shield wall was formed, with Issin and Dynamm in both sides to attack any monsters flanking or in front of the wall. Dale was the bait, Kunimittz ready to switch with him .

"Who's there?!" Dale shouted out, greatsword ready.

"It's moving!" Issin yelled warningly. He pointed his two-pronged spear at the incoming target.

12 feet. Dale's greatsword glowed green.

"Help!" A young girl in a white dress burst from the forest, and a gigantic wolf followed. It's green glowing eyes set on Dale.

Who instantly turned tail and ran. The shield wall opened, and Dale was let through. The wolf still pursued him, but when it went through the wall, spears and swords scraped along it's sides. Maces butted the wolf forward, and into Dale's incoming combo. The rapid succession of attacks quickly disintegrated it. It was a plan designed to face minibosses, and can be repeated a number of times.

The girl clung to Dale, hugging the stocky man.

"Uh, who are you?" he said nervously, trying to gently push away the child. The small girl just hugged harder.

"You saved my life! I'm Yui; I'm forever in your debt!" The girl snuggled Dale, much to his slight annoyance.

"It's an NPC. No colour cursor or something like that. But, uh, something's weird." Issin analyzed.

"It's not that useful?" Kunimittz suggested dryly. Issin shrugged back. Dale looked at them confused.

"Help?"

"Why? Don't you want to be hugged?" Harry Two joked, much to Dale's annoyance. Dynamm walked towards him.

"Yui, please stop hugging him." He said simply. The A.I. stepped back. Dynamm knelt down.

"Right. What's your problem?"

"You should lighten up!" she said back, causing him to step back in surprise. "It can talk back to us now?!" Dale shouted.

"Considering how annoyed you get with NPCs, Dynamm, you're _screwed._ "

"Shut up."

Silica caught up with the party, looking at Yui with curiosity.

"Hey Silica, we found your lost twin." Sh looked at Yui with interest

"Hello. What's your name?"

"Yui! I lived in a cabin with my parents, but the wolf came and killed them. I'm an orphan now. Nowhere else to go…" Yui started to cry, and Silica hugged her.

"I think it's manipulating our emotions-" Issin rubbed his head.

"We're bringing Yui with us!" Silica declared, prompting Issin to open his mouth.

"Shut up, Issin." Dynamm said in a rare moment of compassion. Yui hugged harder.

* * *

_Floor 45_

Asuna entered the shop, alerting Lisbeth. She quickly came up from her workshop, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Hi Lisbeth." Asuna placed Kirito's coat scrap pile on the counter. "I need to know if you can salvage anything from this." Lisbeth inspected it.

"This is Blackwyrm Scales. A pretty rare item a few levels below the frontlines. You can make an excellent coat from thi-"

"We made a new one that was better. Can you do something with this?" Asuna handed a scale out. Lisbeth rubbed her head. "I dunno. Scales are like skin. You can make dragon scale armor with scales that are hardened, but those are quickly outdated…" She spotted bones among the scales.

"Holy crap. Scales, you can make underpowered armor or a freakin' blanket but this…" She held out a bone segment. "This is pretty much classified as a metal. Give me all the Blackwyrm bones. I'll experiment." Asuna raked in all the scales, leaving the bones.

"Well, thanks again. Will this do?" A trade request opened, potentially giving Lisbeth a large amount of Col.

"Yes, thanks." Asuna turned around to leave. "Uh, Asuna, wait."

"What?"

"I was wondering, if you get loot from grinding, I would ask if you sold them to me." Asuna squinted her eyes from confusion. "Or at least, just the ores and metal."

"Well, sure, but why?"

"Business is slow, lately. The major guilds have their own blacksmiths, and they set up shop. The guilds can get stuff from the frontlines, and after arming their guild, they can make and sell the latest gear. The guild makes money. Win-win." Asuna threw a sympathizing look.

"Was that a subtle way of saying that you want to join my guild?" Lisbeth hid her face, faced down on the counter.

"Not so subtle, was it?"

"I would consider it, actually, if we weren't getting pursued by the Divine Dragon Alliance,"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Long story." Asuna started to grab all the Blackwyrm scales and put on a red cloak, hiding her face. "Asuna, come back in like, three days."

"I gotta go now. See you." Asuna disappeared, and Lisbeth looked around the empty shop.

"Not so subtle." She whispered, and glanced at the pile of bones on top of the counter. An idea presented itself.

_Floor 1- Black Iron Castle_

Keita thought about his guild's grim situation. Locked in a dungeon cell, in the Black Iron Palace. Four stone walls and an iron door. The DDA struck a deal with the Army to hold prisoners at the HQ dungeon. No other player homes had prison cells.

"So, what do we do now?"

"I don't know. They can't access our inventory, but these walls are indestructible, and this lock can't be picked. All they need to do is throw us in here, and lock the door." Tetsuo groaned in response.

"Clearers. It's not as hyped up as I thought."

"They're paranoid, Tetsuo. They're scared."

"Oh, so you're _defending_ them!"

"I'm not defending them!" Keita shot back. Tetsuo opened his mouth, but Sasamaru interrupted.

"Before you start, stop! Geez, calm down. Kirito knows we stayed back, right? They'll rescue us. We just have to trust them. We're here because we did." Tetsuo opened his inventory, and checked the friends list.

"Uh, guys, is it just me? Fūrin Kazan's not in my friends' list." Keita checked. "Yeah, it's not."

"Me too,"

"Same here."

"Great. So they can't track us. They can't rescue us!"

"Hey!" Sasamaru shouted. "Calm down. There's probably a good explanation."

"There is." Ducker said, his first words since capture. "They can't be tracked now."

* * *

_Floor 22_

Kirito heard the door open, and the shuffling of feet.

"Hey Kirito!" Klein yelled, prompting him to get out of the bedroom.

"We have to get a meeting going-" Kirito looked at the white girl. "Who the hell is she?"

 


	13. The Army

"She's Yui." Dale explained. "She came out of the woods, chased by this wolf, and we killed it. Now she's clingy." Kirito facepalmed.

"Get her out."

"Hey, woah!" Klein interrupted, "What, we're gonna _abandon_ her?!" Yui started to hug Klein instead. "Thank you!" she squealed, and Klein started to push her away. "Gotta admit though, she should stop the hugging thing."

"She's a more advanced AI than the other NPCs. I still don't know her actual purpose." Issin said.

"Did she hint anything?" Kirito responded, but Issin shook his head. "Nope. Just that her home was destroyed by a creature and her parents died, and we saved her or whatever."

"Well, we have to find her a new home then,"

"But I thought I was staying with you," Yui started to look at Kirito, tearing up. The teenager scratched his head and groaned nervously. "Okay, you're staying!" Kunimittz ran up to him.

"You're letting her stay here?!" he whispered furiously, through gritted teeth.

"I'm not made of stone! Go ahead, kick her out!" Kunimittz looked back at her, currently playing with Silica's dragon.

"Yeah, you're right." he confessed. Someone then came in from the porch. Suguha rubbed her eyes from her nap, and noticed the white girl.

"Who's she?"

"An AI that imprinted on us," Issin said, much to Dynamm's dismay.

" _Dude_ , that just sounded… No." he stuttered, visibly embarrassed.

"Hello, who's this?" Kirito turned at the source of the sound. Asuna.

"It's an NPC. For some reason, she won't leave. No attached side quests I can think of." Kirito explained.

"Well, alright, I guess." She stared at Yui weirdly, then went on to her business. Recon opened the sliding door quietly, and took a seat, disregarding the NPC, having heard the previous conversations.

"Alright, could everyone sit down?" His guild sat down before him, and Kirito did a quick head count.

"Everyone's here. Now, sorry for the small house, but we have to hide. I don't think there's anyone in this floor, but still don't go outside a lot. At least, not in the main towns."

"How are we going to solve this?" Issin asked. Kirito looked at him bleakly.

"I don't know. I really don't know." He said solemnly. A moment passed. Yui looked around at the silent group, frowning.

"All of you should lighten up!" she declared, shocking Kirito up from his

tress. "What do you mean?" he replied, looking at the slightly enraged child.

"You're acting like it's the end of the world. It's not. Can't you do something?"

"The second-largest guild wants our head! It's not like we can do a lot right now!" Kunimittz responded. She shook her head.

"Maybe you can get support!"

"That's ridiculous!" Dynamm facepalmed.

"Hold up." Issin interrupted. Kirito followed the exchange, interested.

"Maybe we could. I'm not even kidding, perhaps we could get the support of-"

"Let me guess, the guilds I brought in the 74th boss?" Kirito interjected, but Issin waved him off.

"No, those guilds won't make a dent. No, I meant the ALF. The Army. We saved their men, right? Maybe we can return the favour-"

"I'd be weird just walking up to them and be like: Bro, DDA's poundin' on me, back me up!" Harry Two added. Kirito nodded.

"Yeah, you're right." Issin was going to dismiss his idea completely, when Asuna spoke up.

"You're missing something. After Keita defended us, what would the DDA do? After trying to kill us, how would you think they would react when the Black Cats interfered with their 'justice'?" Kirito's eyes widened.

"Oh, crap."

"We have to find out where the DDA imprisoned captured people." Dale said, "That would lead us to them."

"The Black Iron Castle, right? That's where orange players are imprisoned."

"Wait, you guys are ignoring something." Issin spoke. "What if the Black Cats are-" "Dude, don't do this," Dynamm groaned, but his pleas are ignored.

"Dead?" he finished. Asuna hardened.

"They are not dead!" she said loudly, glaring at Issin. "They can't be." Her voice lowered. Issin nodded.

"Alright."

"I guess all we have to do is teleport there, right?" Klein asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. But…" he looked at the window. No sign of the sun anymore, only the black night. "We have to rest first."

* * *

Yui looked at Recon. He stayed in one spot, and has said nothing at the recent conversation. Everyone else retired to bed, but he just went outside and faced the nearby lake and stayed awake, hood up. She walked and sat beside him.

"Hello, I'm Yui. What's wrong?" she said, following her basic guidelines for cheering someone up.

"Hi. And, nothing's wrong." He quickly shifted focus to the lake again.

Press the subject harder.

"Something's keeping you up." She responded.

"I guess I could, you're an NPC. Well, do you know why we're in this problem?"

"No…"

"It's because of me. I'm responsible. Ever since I threw one of my knives, we spiralled down into this mess!"

"Knives?"

"It was coated with a poison. That can help you kill."

"It can't be that bad," Yui replied. Recon faced her with a surprised look. "When people die, they die. The poison makes victims helpless from murderers! You don't understand that?" Yui paused.

_The people screaming and crying from the start... Is this what they were afraid of? Dying? Yui thought_. She assumed they were just extremely sad.

She was designed to be almost human, to communicate with other humans fluidly. The pinnacle of artificial intelligence. Able to react realistically to a human. But she wasn't completely sentient. Every emotion was in some degree, simulated.

She was created to mingle and cheer up players from their woes. She took their fears into account.

"You're sad because you don't want to die?" she asked bluntly. "Well, yes, it's pretty

obvious. And it's Akihiko Kayaba's fault." Recon said. With disgust. Yui tried searching him up on Cardinal, but was denied.

"Must be scary."

"You wouldn't know. You're a program."

* * *

Klein sniffed, and opened his eyes. Light beamed from the windows, little dust particles floating in the sunlight. Kirito slept pretty deeply, thankfully not snoring. He sat up and walked around half awake, almost accidentally stepping on Silica's face. She moved from the living room to sleep in the bedroom floor. Klein left the bedroom and looked at the living room, crowded by the forwards, producing a significant amount of noise pollution, with Yui at the centre of it all, sleeping in a bedroll presumably placed by one of them. He carefully navigated around Dynamm and Dale, who took the hallway.

He went to the bathroom, to find Kirito's sister slumped in the bathtub. No bedroll or anything, just slept on the bathtub with full armor. He washed his face, then proceeded to go outside to the porch. Curiously, only Recon was there, and awake too. A bedroll was set up, but he only lied down, staring at the sky.

"Good morning," Klein said casually, and Recon looked at him, and back to the sky.

"Hi,"

"What's wrong?"

Recon sighed. "Yui asked me that last night. For some reason, she got off topic, I dunno."

"There's something wrong. You're sorta like Kirito. Every time you two get stressed out, you guys escape social interaction."

"Wait, really?"

"Kirito needed time after he pretty much raged at you and his sister. As in, a couple months."

"Oh, right."

"Just tell me," Klein chuckled. Recon shrugged.

"Well, everything's my fault. We're in this mess is because I know how to paralyze. It links me to murderers!" he vented. Klein nodded. "Grow up." Recon's mouth dropped. "What?"

"Grow up. I'm pretty sure sulking isn't the solution."

"Um… Okay," he saw the brown haired teen's sullen look.

"Look, I know you're sad and all, but if you don't want to be part of the problem, be part of the solution." Klein started to walk back to the cabin. Recon put the bedroll back in his inventory, and looked around. The lake reflected the sun, already a considerable distance up from the horizon, a soft breeze slowly swaying the trees around. Some guild members started to wake up, and walk around, looking for food, and talking softly. Kirito was looking around at cupboards, for something to eat. Recon turned his back from the lake, heading indoors.

"Silica?" Kirito approached the small dragon girl. Pina was nibbling on a biscuit.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to see whether the Black Cats are on the prison or not,"

"I don't know about this…" Silica responded nervously.

"Just don't wear anything with our logo, be inconspicuous, then sneak in. All you gotta do is get in, find them, and teleport out."

"Look, it's not like I can just go out and do that!" Silica paused. "What if I get caught?" Harry Two overheard this, and yelled.

"Wait, caught?!" Everyone looked at Kirito.

Well, I tried being discreet… he thought.

"Yeah, I'm trying to get Silica to see if the Black Cats are actually there."

"But it's not just scouting out a trail!" Dynamm reacted, and Klein stepped in. "So you're saying, she can't handle it?" Klein threw an accusing look at Dynamm. Silica pushed both of then away from each other, sensing the tension.

"Hey! I'll do it. If it helps us, I'll do it." She resolved. Kirito nodded, and saw that everyone in the guild was up after Harry Two's yelp..

He then projected map data of Floor One, as a hologram.

"Alright, the Teleport Gate is right in front of the Black Iron Castle, where the Black Cats are probably in. The Army occupies the fort, and we're gonna assume the DDA would be here too."

"Why?" Recon asked. Kirito was rather surprised he was here, but didn't show it.

"They saw the Black Cats defend us. They know we have some kind of relationship with them. Besides, nothing wrong with being careful anyways."

"Aren't we friends with the ALF?" Issin asked.

"Really?"

"You seriously forgot Gleam Eyes?"

"Oh, right!" Kirito facepalmed. "Forgot that."

"Maybe we can convince them to release the Cats,"

"The ALF isn't exactly lenient," Suguha added, "Their sub-leaders force 'taxes' on the people there who are really behind in levels. And the leader controls all the spawn points there, so some players are trapped there, too weak to got to Floor 2."

"How do you know this? And who's the leader?"

"Me and Recon have been in the Starting City longer than you think. Oh, and I think to leader's name is Kibaou."

"Oh, crap," Klein groaned, leaning against a wall. "Kirito, do you remember the first boss battle? The dude I punched."

"It was the ALF leader, wasn't it? Yeah, we can't ask him."

"Illfang was two years ago. Surely he wouldn't hold a grudge?" Dale said. "Yeah, he will. I defended Kirito, a beta tester. And he really doesn't like them."

"You shouldn't have stood up for me, Klein."

"Nah, it was still worth it."

"Okay, so Silica actually has to sneak in."

"Only way in's front door. I'm pretty sure there's guards." Issin added.

"We create a distraction." Asuna offered. "Maybe we can cause some chaos."

"I have the perfect solution." Recon said.

"Alright. Now when we get to the Starting City, we go in shifts. Not the whole group at once. And we have to wear starting equipment, starting weapons. And Silica, hide your dragon somehow. And tell Yui to stay here." Issin laid out the plan, and menu chimes filled the room.

And Yui was nowhere to be seen. Not that anyone noticed.

"And we probably have to disband the guild too. They can tell what guild we're in just by looking at us. And DDA probably told them to keep a lookout."

Kirito saw everybody's uncertain looks. "It's just gonna be a little while. We'll still be in parties." Klein, now clad in a red shirt and basic armor, walked out of the cabin and went to the town with the Teleport Gate.

"I'll take first shift."

* * *

Kirito saw the last of the members come through the inn door, escorted by Klein, who was watching the Teleport Gate. They stayed at a inn nearby the Black Iron Castle, a glass window showing the front. Sure enough, a guard is there at the entrance.

"Okay, Silica,when the guard is distracted, put on your cloak and sneak in. Avoid people, and move slowly. Don't rush." Kirito advised. Silica nodded. Her dragon was under the table.

"Recon, what's your plan?"

"I'm actually just going to stare at him while walking by. It'll distract him, even for a little while."

"Good enough then."

The plan went to action. Silica put on her black cloak, the guild patch cut out, and went outside, approaching the castle's side, and went into hiding mode.

Hiding mode is activated by selecting the skill in the menu. A number appears in the HUD, from 1, hidden, to 10, visible. The number sinks depending on some factors, like how close a person is to you, gear, colour of the gear, a player's searching skill, and so on. Kirito saw Silica disappear.

"Recon, go." He walked towards the guard, glaring. The guard stared back, and Recon started to walk away, but still held the guard's attention. Kirito barely saw Silica's outline get into the castle.

"She's in."

Silica snuck in the entrance, and saw a giant room, with tables, and food, with a giant domed ceiling. Army players walked around, eating. A giant table was in the centre, and Kibaou and some other players, probably Sub-Leaders.

Her Hiding rate alternated between 1 and 2 as she sneaked towards a steel door. She stopped, and opened it a bit. She checked if anyone was watching, then quickly entered. There was some stairs and torches, and she slowly went down. Two other entrances, on each side, presented itself. She heard talking in one room, and she quickly went in. Two rows of jail cells were built on the walls, and a mix of orange players and Laughing Coffin members were present.

And so was the Moonlit Black Cats.

Silica started to get out of the castle, but a light suddenly appeared in front of her. Her dragon teleported to her.

"Pina… **What?!** "

A dozen soldiers opened the door.

"Apparently new sections keep appearing at least once a month..." The player in front said, and suddenly stopped.

"Who are you?!"

Silica jumped over the soldiers, and busted through the doors, alerting everyone. Kirito ran past the guard, and his suspicions are correct; the dragon teleports to it's master when separated too much. The rest followed. Army players started to cover the entrance. A Sub Leader stood up.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Get out!" The Army players started to step aside from the entrance.

"Wait."

Kirito froze, and slowly turned around.

"When the DDA dropped off prisoners, they said to keep a lookout. They told me, what you did. And what your guild held." Kibaou said slowly.

"Give it to me, or else."

"Give what?" Kirito tried to lie. Kibaou slammed the table.

"You know what!"

"No!" Recon shouted. Soldiers started to mutter, speculating the secret. The brownish-haired leader walked up to them.

"It's this, or imprisonment."

"You know we're Clearers right? Otherwise, how would you have recognized us? Throw us to the dungeons, and you're only slowing this game's progress." Issin shot back to Kibaou, but he seemed unfazed.

" _Please_. When the ALF returns to the front lines, you'll be replaced." Kibaou scoffed. "You'll be forgotten pretty quickly."

"We won't give it to you, but we'll trade places with a guild you're keeping captive for the wrong reasons." Asuna said. Kibaou shook his head. "No."

"You can't imprison us."

"I can't damage you. But I can certainly grab you."

"Then we surrender." Kirito called. Kibaou frowned. "Are you sure?" Klein nodded, accepting his fate.

"Yes."

Kibaou then took out a Corridor Crystal. Issin noticed it.

"What are you doing?" Kibaou raised it. A giant gate appeared inside the room, with a bluish energy-like veil in between sides.

"Nevermind. Not the dungeon. In here."

"Wait, what's on the other side?!" Kirito shouted, then was grabbed by two players, each with an iron grip. The Fūrin Kazan members were forced to go closer to the portal.

"Are you seriously going to toss me there?!" Dynamm fruitlessly tried to shake his way out.

"I'm sorry."

"Give me the recipe!" Kibaou demanded again. "No!" Kirito saw that the Sub Leaders weren't reacting. Like they did this before.

All the more reason to restrict the paralytic poison.

"We saved your men, and this is how you repay us?!" He desperately played that card.

"You humiliated the ALF. Showing that we can't handle bosses now." Kibaou hardened. The players started to question their orders. But followed Kibaou anyway.

"Throw them in!"

They were pushed in at the same time, teleported.

Yui watched from afar, and teleported.

 


	14. Breaking Point

Kirito hit the stone floor, and watched the Corridor quickly disappear. .

"Is everyone okay?!"

"That depends. If it's on HP loss, I don't think we got any fall damage." Asuna stood up. Stone walls with columns made up the sides. Darkness was on both sides.

"Where are we?" Klein checked the maps.

"No map data here. It says we're in Floor 1 still."

"Everyone, put on equipment." Kirito commanded, and two swords formed a cross on his back. He raised a Teleport Crystal.

"Teleport: Algade!" he shouted. No effect.

"Crystals don't work. It's getting really common."

"Guys, some enemies are coming. Scavenger Toads, level 58. " Silica spotted. A group of green toads approached them.

"Dale,"

"On it." The man cut a swath through the creatures, clad in full gear.

"So the toads came this way," Issin pointed at Silica's direction. "So the entrance's in the opposite."

"That's pretty vague," Kunimittz commented.

"Come up with a better plan, then we'll talk."

"Maybe it's there," Kunimittz pointed at the direction the toads came from.

"That's _ridiculous_ ," Issin retorted.

"How do we know yours is right? For all we know, the frog-thingies were placed near the entrance, and turned around because we were placed smack-dab in the middle of this dungeon!"

"Hey! Can it." Klein interrupted. At that moment, a white light flashed right next to the guild, and Yui appeared, confusing the hell out of everybody.

"What are you doing here?!" Dale exclaimed, and Yui walked forward. "I came to see you guys! You were having trouble…"

"It's not like you can't help. Unless if you give us map data, there's really nothing you can do here."

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you that. And I'm staying." She finalized. Kirito groaned.

"Alright fine."

"Hey, Kirito, can you see that?" Asuna pointed to the blackness. A white speck. Where Kunimittz wanted to go.

"Sort of. Come on, let's go."

They set off, guided by this one hint.

"So, what do you think this is?" Kirito asked Klein.

"Dunno. Probably a field dungeon, something we almost never do, now that I think about it. But those toads Dale fought, Silica said they're level 58. So I have no idea where we are."

"Plus, anti-crystal." Asuna added.

"Yeah, exactly. It's really high-level for a field dungeon at Floor 1." The speck became bigger.

"Hopefully it's the entrance."

They can clearly see the end of their chosen path. A wall with a small white room.

"Okay, so that clearly is the end of the dungeon-"

" _HELP!_ " The sound echoed through the large corridor.

"What was that?" Klein looked at the direction of the sound.

"Over there! A player! In that white room!"

Asuna sprinted there, followed by the rest, hoping on some answers.

"WATCH OUT!" The man called again. Asuna finally reached the room.

The man had wavy hair , sideburns, with a long coat.

"Watch out for the boss!" he repeated. "What boss?!" Asuna responded.

She looked around, and saw a grayed out enemy name.

[The Fatal Scythe]

"Look out!"

The guild was near the room, when the predicted boss appeared.

A large scythe blade appeared behind them, slashing all of them, pushing them to the direction of the safe area. Kirito landed at the foot of the room, health at critical.

The walls lit up, coloured with a starry graphic.

"Oh, crap," Kirito panted, and looked behind him.

The boss appeared from the shadows. A huge monster, with a huge black tattered cloak, and a scythe as big as the boss itself.

"Come in here, this is a safe area!" The mysterious man said, pulling some guild members in, including Yui.

"Heal yourselves!" Kirito studied the boss. Even with a almost maxed out identification skill, he can't see the boss data.

"I can't see info about it, not even how much health. Probably something at floor 90." Kirito started to drink multiple potions.

"There's still people out there.I have to distract the boss. Asuna, run around and heal them. The rest of you…" He looked at the remaining people inside the safe zone. "Teleport out of here in the safe area."

"How long have you been in here?" Issin asked to the mysterious man.

"3 days. And Kibaou took all my crystals."

"Okay, get out of here." He lended a teleport crystal.

"Kirito. I'm not leaving." Issin said. Kirito knew he wouldn't budge. The rest of the guild members here thought too.

"Fine, follow me!" They set out.

Yui saw the black box in the middle of the safe zone. She reached out, a hidden curiosity pulling her in. Her fingertips touched it, and a rush of information burst in her databases.

"How can we defeat it? We can't even tell how much _health_ it has!" Harry Two shouted.

"Just try to distract it!" They charged, and hit as hard as they can. Kirito activated his most advanced Sword Skill, but that didn't do anything. Kirito saw the scythe blade go another swing. Harry Two raised his shield, and Kirito crossed his blades at the front. The combined defence wasn't enough, sending them backwards.

Asuna saw the injured guild members retreat to the safe zone, then discovered new ones.

Issin dodged the attack altogether, and Harry One's defensive capabilities were much better than Kirito's, but he took the brunt of the impact, flung away from Asuna's reach. That left Kirito, a lightly armoured player.

He tried standing up, but the damage was too much. He at least looked at the looming reaper's feet, coming closer with every second.

"Kirito!" She ran up to him. He groaned, trying to stand.

"Asuna, get out of here." She ignored him, and gave him a potion. "No, don't! Just go!" He repeated.

"I'm not leaving you!" She turned around, and unsheathed her rapier, and jumped, readying a Sword Skill. The reaper smashed her down with the blade, and she impacted a few feet away from Kirito.

"No!"

Yui realized that she's never catch up. Klein was right next to her, watching the battle, and extremely injured. She touched him with a glowing hand. Klein suddenly got a bevy of notifications.

"Yui? What are you doing?!"

"I'm altering your stats."

[Katana Skill Completed]

[Sprinting Skill Added]

"Klein, go!"

He nodded, and rushed towards the boss with mind blowing speed.

Asuna barely stood up. She was not going to let it cross her while she was still alive.

[11/19000 HP]

The scythe was coming again, fast. She held her rapier up, hopelessly trying to block it. Then she heard footsteps. In a total rush, Klein intercepted, swiftly pushing her aside, and parried the scythe completely, knocking it away. Yui was right beside him.

The tables have turned.

"Get back!"

"How did you-"

"Just do it!"

Asuna looked at him one more time, then retreated, tending to Kirito.

"Get up,"

Klein turned to the giant reaper, Karakurenai in hand. He can see the boss' information clearly.

[Level 100]

The giant being then launched an attack, quick swipes which were easily deflected.

The samurai charged, knocking away any kind of counterattack. He jumped extremely high, and activated a Sword Skill. He was a laser, going right through the defences, and landed safely at the ground, before launching again, in a storm of attacks, with no skill cool downs whatsoever, lighting the dungeon up even more, with yellow light.

The boss exploded in pixels and polygons , and Klein sheathed his weapon.

The scourge was defeated.

"What, was THAT?!"

Klein's level suddenly dropped, and returned to normal. Everyone rushed to him, amazed by the spectacle he unleashed moments ago.

"That was badass."

"You can do that?!"

"Is it a unique skill?"

Klein grinned tiredly and sat down.

"Everyone, do you want me to explain this , or not?"

" _Hell_ _**YEAH**_ I want an explanation!" Harry Two cried out.

"I'll explain it," the AI said solemnly. "I boosted his stats. I gave him no Sword Skill cooldowns, and I boosted his health and level."

"So you made Klein a god."

"You can do this?" Issin inquired. Yui nodded. "When I touched that console, the black box in the middle of the white room, everything about the game was downloaded to me. The system coding, the number of deaths... But Cardinal corrects everything."

Kirito suddenly ran to the safe area.

"Anyway, the system's going to delete me now. I'm not supposed to save you."

"Look, I have a question." Asuna said. "Why us?"

"I'm a Mental Counselling Program. Generated by Cardinal to boost morale. I came to you, because of your problems."

"Oh, right."

"I'm going to be deleted soon. Cardinal may delete data, but not your memories. You're afraid of death, and a lot of people died. I intervened to prevent more."

"Unless you can free us from this game, I don't think that monologue is helping." Kunimittz said before an elbow is jabbed to his gut.

"I can't free you. But Recon mentioned Akihiko Kayaba. Is he responsible for all those deaths?"

"Yes, pretty much."

"Then I can help you." Yui's skin is starting to flake away, the shreds diffusing to the air.

"Look, Kayaba's in the game. He's a player, a powerful one!"

"Who?!"

"Heathcliff." Yui faded away, and Kirito came back.

"I went to the console at the room, and I made it so that Yui's saved at my NerveGear."

"Kirito, Yui said something before she died." Asuna told him. "What?"

"Heathcliff's Kayaba."

He stayed silent, comprehending the fact.

"The Knights of the Blood Oath leader?"

"Well, yes."

They all looked at Kirito for the next move. The fatigued teen breathed out, too tired to think.

"Come on, we have to go back to the cabin."

"We've been through hell and back; yeah, let's go." Kunimittz agreed. Despite the epic spectacle they witnessed moments ago, everybody silently teleported.

* * *

Never was the claustrophobic cabin a welcoming sight. Dale collapsed on the couch, after their near-death at the Hidden Dungeon.

"Can we seriously, just take a break?"

"No, we have to stay focused; the two largest guilds are coming to get us." Kirito reinstated the guild. He kept a serious face, and the look quickly changed when he entered the bedroom. He flopped down on his bed, facing the ceiling, going limp. Asuna wordlessly followed him, set up a bedroll, and crawled into it.

A few silent moments passed.

"Hey, Asuna. I want to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest."

"Well, of course, what?" Asuna had an idea of what he was going to say.

"When I was hit by the boss, you came over to me. I told you to get away, but you stayed. Even when the reaper hit you, you still stayed."

"I was in your guild for two years, Kirito-"

"That was a very stupid move. There's more than that. I told you to go."

Asuna turned to her side.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Well, yes,"

"Do you remember the time I left the guild for Nicholas the Renegade?"

"And?"

"The DDA vanguard were chasing us, and the boss was coming. You chose to help me."

"You were going to take the bonus boss alone. Klein had everyone else to repel the DDA vanguard, but you still went by yourself." Kirito explained.

"It was a bonus boss to a floor that was several floors below the frontlines. My level was higher than yours, and you're a beta tester."

"I still have no idea how you did that, and even then, I couldn't really leave you alone."

"Exactly. You chose to help me even if I pushed you away. That's why I keep following you."

Kirito blushed, and pleased that Asuna wasn't looking at him.

"Thanks."

"I have to tell you something." Asuna said, a bit nervously.

"What is it?" Kirito answered.

"Can we switch beds?"

* * *

"So Kayaba. What the hell are we going to do?" They all look at Issin.

"What?" Issin shrugged.

"You're the smart one. You organized the guild to teams, and stuff."

"Well, I've been thinking. It really doesn't matter. We know that Heathcliff's Kayaba, but if we announce it, well, he can kill us all if he wants to. If he even cares."

"Of course he would care. If he wanted us to know, he'd friggin' announce it." Dynamm reasoned.

"Well, if we do, what's he going to do? End the game? He's probably just going to leave, and just watch over us again. And he's Heathcliff! He's helping us win the game!" Issin replied back loudly, pressing his head on the wall, his breaking point easily reached from the stress in the previous fight.

Dynamm wordlessly got a bedroll on the floor. "I'm taking a nap."

"It's not even-"

"We deserve a break! _I_ deserve a break! We're chased by guilds, got the Black Cats in prison, got thrown in a dungeon and almost died, if it wasn't for Yui and Klein." He paused, and signalled Klein. "That was _badass_ by the way, but we still almost died. I'm going to take a day." He snapped.

"Agreed."

 


	15. Eleventh Hour

_Floor 1 Starting City: Black Iron Palace_

"Too bad we didn't get the poison; would have made us be top guild again." A sub-leader drawled. Kibaou rolled his eyes.

"Relax. Fūrin Kazan has the recipe, but right now, they're trapped. They won't give it to anyone. And besides, no one can stop us now."

Thinker teleported to the center of the Starting City. The Black Iron Palace is directly ahead. The crystal dissipated from his hands. He strutted forward, people recognizing him as the partner to Kibaou, the one that mysteriously disappeared. The former leader to MMO Today, a guild dedicated to helping out weak players, a guild that merged with the Army.

The guard at the entrance recognized him.

"Thinker?"

"Hello,"

"You were _gone_ for three days!"

"I'm back," The guard respectfully stood aside. "Can you come with me?" Thinker said. The guard nodded.

"Kibaou!"

The man turned around. A man with a blue long coat. His former partner.

The one he trapped to his death.

"I noticed you sent a guild down at the Hidden Dungeon. The guild that rescued the men you sent to the 74th floor,"

"They harboured a poison that can assassinate people quickly," Kibaou stated. "I'm glad you're back." Kibaou said hesitantly. Thinker scowled.

"They saved my life!" he yelled, attracting everyone's attention. Army players stopped and looked at the situation.

"What makes you better than them?! Maybe that poison is exactly what you want! It would've made killing me easier. Then you can get as much Col you want from everyone without me knowing." Thinker shouted, letting everyone here. He opened the guild section in his menu, and selected Kibaou to kick. In order to kick someone out of the guild, you need to have a majority of the guild players agree with you. A notification popped up in every ALF member's menu. They can choose to agree, disagree, or decline partaking in the vote.

Kibaou stayed silent.

"You left me to rot in that dungeon. I shouldn't have trusted you. I want this guild the way it was; helping out low to mid-level players. But it's pretty obvious even you can't handle that. Now who's with me?" Thinker declared.

The players looked at each other. Thinker looked at the Sub-Leaders, and recognized her wife, Yulier. The white-haired woman looked extremely pleased from the reappearance of her husband. Most chose to abstain, to play it safe. Almost all of the Sub-Leaders disagreed, except Yulier, who agreed. Some of the players were around with MMO Today since the beginning, and couldn't level up without the guild's assistance. They agreed.

Kibaou saw his guild logo disappear from his profile.

"Motion carried."

* * *

_Floor 50- Granzam_

Heathcliff entered his quarters, closing the door behind him. The gray-haired man sat down on his bed. He opened his menu, and pressed something. A clone of his player model appeared in front of him, and the model immediately went to the bed, taking a sleeping position. It came with all the data displayed by a player, a dummy, in case anyone entered the room.

Heathcliff then teleported away, transforming to Akihiko Kayaba.

He appeared outside Aincrad, at the edge of the skybox. He stood on air, with nothing but clouds below him. The gigantic floating castle was a shell around the hundred floors.

He sat down, sighing, then proceeded to open his menu again, and tapping another button.

[Cardinal]

Numerous holographic windows surrounded him, displaying player population, lists of players, distribution of players in floors, etc.

He then started maintenance. Cardinal usually handled everything, but sometimes, a human had to intervene to clean up bugs.

He skimmed through Cardinal's delete history. There were player names, and game enemies, but something caught his eye.

[Deleted Yui-MHCP001 at 01-11-23]

Kayaba clicked on the deletion report.

[Player "Klein" profile accessed by Yui-MHCP001]

Anyone who accesses another inventory gets kicked, or in this case, die.

"An AI did that? How?"

Cardinal keeps a 3D recording of everything in Aincrad. Kayaba accessed the records prior to that deletion.

A coloured hologram appeared in front of him. A massively scaled down Hidden Dungeon showed the Fatal Scythe attacking a group of players, most uniquely, Kirito.

_The Twin Swordsman_ , he thought, and kept watching. They were mostly in critical condition. The AI, touched a player, and the player was boosted; Kayaba saw the health at least triple, and his skills artificially boosted past maximum level.

The dungeon quickly lit up with yellow light emanating from the Sword Skills. He found it interesting, and kept watching. The reaper died, and they sat around for a while, talking and resting. Kayaba still listened, wanting to know why Yui-MHCP001 broke rules.

"When I touched that console, the black box in the middle of the white room, everything about the game was downloaded to me. The system coding, the number of deaths... But Cardinal corrects everything." The girl-looking AI confessed. Something stirred inside him.

He saw Kirito rush to the console room.

"Look, Kayaba's in the game. He's a player, a powerful one!"

Kayaba sharply inhaled, hoping that Cardinal had deleted her by now.

"Who?!"

"Heathcliff."

Kayaba bowed his head, sighing in stress.

_My own creation betrayed me…_ That line echoed in his head, a repeating mantra.

Kayaba remembered the days leading the Assault Group to epic battles. He never had that euphoric rush since his childhood.

But this secret may ruin _everything!_ This perfect world he built from years of work!

He pulled up the roster of Fūrin Kazan from the servers, drawn towards the obvious solution.

[Kick selected players (12)?]

He managed to stop himself, however. He always had a fascination with the dual wielder. He held a sort of competitive rivalry with him. Kirito's stats stood further than the rest. And his followers weren't very far behind. It was a bit upsetting to kill them for such a selfish and cowardly reason.

He decided to wait until they show up at the Clearer meetings, see if they turn him in, reveal the secret.

He was a benevolent god.

* * *

_Floor 22_

"I'm calling a meeting." Kirito said out to the cabin, and sat down on a corner, besides the sliding glass door, kicking Dynamm from his nap, getting a colourful complaint.

Not that he cared.

He saw the guild gather eventually.

"Alright," Kirito said to the two dozen, " Any ideas for our next move?"

"Not really," Issin admitted.

"Okay, then what about that guy in the dungeon that we helped escape?"

"He's probably Thinker, a sub-leader in the ALF," Suguha responded, "He's supposed to be Kibaou's partner. He was, nice, actually."

"Maybe he went back to HQ?" Dynamm suggested. "Vouch for us?"

"Didn't Kibaou send him down there to his death?" Kunimittz countered, "If he went back, he might be dead,"

"Still, it's the closest thing we have." Kirito stood up. "I'm going to find out."

"I'm sorry, what?" Klein stopped him. "You're literally the most recognizable person here. Hey look, dual blades!"

"That's the point. If he's alive, he'll recognize me. If he's not, I'm running."

"We'll all come, then. More recognizable." Asuna affirmed, and stood up.

"A bit stupid, but I can't stop you."

Bare knuckles rapped the door. He froze.

"Who the hell is that?" Kirito whispered.

" _Pizza_ , Kirito! I don't know!"

He approached the door carefully, sliding Dark Repulser out of it's sheath. Dale positioned in front of the door, and Silica and Recon pulled out throwing knives.

Kirito opened the door, a glowing sword ready to stab…

Lisbeth. She took one look at the numerous weapons aimed at her, and turned around, walking away.

"Lisbeth?!" Kirito caught up. " _Wait_!"

Dale lowered his greatsword.

"Well, _this_ is embarrassing,"

"Lisbeth, come on!" Asuna ran out.

"You guys were going to _skewer_ me! That was scary _as hell!_ "

"Why are you here?" Kirito grabbed her shoulder.

"Asuna gave me your coat, and I made something out of it." She explained.

"What did you make?" Kirito asked, secretly excited.

"A sword." She materialized a black metal sword, with a bone blade.

"I had to use some really expensive stuff to this. Like, really expensive. Drove me out of business." She griped. Asuna shook her head confusedly.

"Drove you out of business?!" Asuna complained, "Why would you _do_ that?"

"You are literally my only business. Those guild smiths are driving me out." Asuna sighed.

"You really want to join us, don't you?" Asuna replied.

"I gave you free stuff. And, I was thinking, and I thought that it would be useless sitting around, selling almost outdated weapons. So I want to be a Clearer."

"It's not going to be like X'rphan." Kirito warned, but Lisbeth continued to the cabin. "I know."

"Just wait, we have to do something first. When we return, we'll decide." Asuna let her in the cabin.

"We're going to Floor One," Kirito called to the guild.

Asuna smiled to Lisbeth. "Wait in the cabin. If we don't come back tired, I'll tell the rest of the guild, and we'll see."

Asuna caught up to Kirito, leading the path to the Teleport Gate at the main town.

"Uh, Kirito? Why is Lisbeth staying at the cabin?" Klein looked back, seeing her sit down on a couch. "I'll tell you later." Asuna offhandedly answered.

"Asuna, I thought we deleted _everyone_ in the friends list." Kirito looked at Asuna. "Alright, I left Lisbeth in." she said embarrassingly, prompting Kirito to sigh.

* * *

_Floor 1_

"This is it. Moment of truth." Kunimittz breathed out at the sight of the Black Iron Palace.

Nearby onlookers recognized the guild, and started to attract attention. Kirito started strutting forward, through the gates of the Palace.

The guards didn't really care; a good sign.

They went into the inside, red and black clothes and armor a telltale sign. The Elementals.

"That's the guy in the dungeon." Klein pointed out. Thinker, in his dark blue jacket, was in discussion with a new council of sub leaders, a white-haired woman by his side.

"Oh, hey!" Thinker stood up, heading towards them. "Thanks for saving me!" He suddenly hugged Kirito.

"…alright then."

"So, Kibaou?" Asuna asked. " Kicked him out," a sub leader answered, "He's not here."

"How did you escape?" Thinker asked. Klein quickly jumped in.

"Long story,"

"Well, anyway, what can I do for you?" He said warmly.

"Can you release someone in the dungeon? It's not Laughing Coffin members." Asuna requested.

"Of course, but why?"

"We might as well tell him Kirito," Issin drawled. Thinker stopped.

"What story?"

"The reason why we were thrown into the dungeon." He turned around. "We have to speak privately."

Kirito watched a ALF player unlock the bars holding the Moonlit Black Cats.

"Thanks, Kirito," Keita grinned.

"No problem,"

They waited until they were out of the prison when they spoke.

"How did you get us out?"

"We rescued the leader from a dungeon."

"Why was he there? Did he go alone in the dungeon? Did they actually call you?" he fired one question after another.

" _Another time_ , Keita." Asuna interrupted. He shrugged.

"I guess so," Thinker awaited at the exit.

"Well. Kirito, again, thank you for saving me."

"I'll do the stuff you wanted me to do. There's also a Clearer meeting tomorrow. Took longer for them to scout the Labyrinth." Keita kept that last part in his head.

"Thanks." Thinker watched the guild walk away. He smiled, but there was a solemn look in his eyes.

"Hey Kirito , what did you ask Thinker to do?" Issin asked. The whole guild looked at him curiously.

"I asked him to convince the DDA that we're not a threat."

"Do you think they would believe him?"

"ALF's a huge force. They got lots of power." Klein answered. Kirito reached the teleport gate.

"We haven't been training a lot lately. That's why, we're going to head to the 75th floor. Klein, pick up Lisbeth, sell the cabin. Buy back the manor we sold. We're meeting at the 75th floor Labyrinth entrance."

"For once, I got a good feeling about this." Kunimittz smiled.

* * *

_Floor 75 Main City- Corinth_

They ventured into the black dungeon,

"Right, let's do this!" Lisbeth excitedly delivered, attracting lots of attention.

"Woah, hold on." Issin gestured, "What's your level?"

"Um, it's a bit low,"

" _Really_ low, if you didn't train after that encounter with X'rphan." Klein nudged Lisbeth. "I'm not coming, aren't I?" she said dryly.

"Yeah, probably. Go back to the manor. Maybe there's a workshop there, I dunno. Look at the guild inventory time to time." Klein waved goodbye. Lisbeth nodded, and cracked a crystal, heading back.

"Wait!" Lisbeth ran back, giving Klein a black sword.

[Demonic Blackwyrn Sword +15]

The sword was mainly black, with accents of red in the tips and handles. The bottom of the handle protruded a small piece of dragon teeth. The blade was made of dark grey bone, judging from the texture.

"Thanks! Oh and by the way; welcome to the guild!" Klein waved goodbye, then ran to catch up.

A group of players ran past her, chain mail wearing players with masks and curved blades.

* * *

"Been a long time since we grinded. We must be a couple levels short." Klein remarked. "We'll get there," Dale reassured, marching ahead.

Conversations stopped for a moment when a pack of black armor clad players rushed past them with incredible speed.

"Kotaru?" He identified the levels of the runners, which confirmed it. They were beta testers.

"Asuna, can you get map info from them?"

"Sure, why?"

"Actually, never mind. Dunno if you can catch up-" Asuna launched right there, dashing fast across the path.

"-uh, okay."

Asuna went back equally as quick.

"They want us to join them."

Kirito shrugged, and went forward. "Well, alright."

"Wait, what's happening?" Dale asked around, as they followed him. "You don't recognize them?" Issin responded, as the black masked players came into view.

"Fuumaningun players. Exclusively beta testers." A player removed his mask, revealing brown hair and grey eyes.

"Kirito. Geez, your level sucks. Are you sure those guys aren't dragging you down?" he said a bit arrogantly, pointing to the people behind Kirito's back.

"Nice to meet you too," Kunimittz replied, causing a few to chuckle.

"Sorry, you must've fell behind when you were hunted." Kotaru apologized, "The DDA placed bounties on you, a few thousand Col each. Even more to that guy over there. Of course, you worked with us for months, so we kept quiet." He pointed to a boy with a grey cloak and staff. Recon.

"Long story. We're here to boost our levels. Do you have any map data?" Kirito asked. Kotaru smiled, and opened a trade request, exchanging maps for free.

"Of course. Hey, do you want to come with us? We're trying to find the boss door."

The closer players are to the boss door, more enemies spawn. So this offer would speed up levelling.

"Sure."

* * *

Floor 74

After hours of searching, Lisbeth finally found a workshop in the grand manor. The basement. It was home to furnaces, forges, workbenches, and grindstones. It was pretty much like heaven to her. The stony walls and lack of windows sort of made her feel like a dwarf.

"Maybe they already have some loot from the frontlines," she opened the guild inventory. Sure enough, it was filled with rare ores.

She got to work.. A bit _too_ excited.

"We're making good progress," Klein muttered, slashing a skeletal spider for the millionth time. They forged through new paths in the Labyrinth, in search for the boss entrance. Harry One shattered another set of crawling bones, before his brother whined.

"Where the hell is a safe area when you need it?"

"Relax. It's probably close-" Harry One replied to his complaints until someone cried out in excitement.

"Holy _crap!_ The boss door!" A Fuumaningun scout bellowed, everyone rushing over. The door was unusually dark, with small torches.

And the dungeon was very dark already, multiplying the scare factor of the bony red eyed spiders that spawn here.

"We're not going in there, are we?" Kunimittz's voice cracked.

"Kirito, wanna check it out?" Kotaru said daringly. Kirito immediately backed out.

"Our levels are still a few levels below yours, so we'll stay here." Kirito responded.

"Suit yourself. We're going in." Kotaru whistled to the ninja-like players.

They pushed open the doors, sword in one hand, crystal in the other.

Only darkness stood before them. Kotaru advanced forward, intent on revealing the boss.

Asuna saw the doors move on it's own, closing rapidly.

_Like the one in the Floor 1 dungeon._

The one responsible killing Sachi.

"The doors are closing!" She dashed forward and pushed against the door, trying to hold the door open. The people behind Asuna started to help, piling up strength against the metal entrances. The doors moved seemingly without restriction, ignoring the pushing players.

"Run back!" A player in there screamed, and everyone ran back, desperately trying to escape.

"Teleport: Corinth! Teleport: Corinth!" A player shouted hopelessly, raising his crystal.

"Anti Crystal?!" Klein cursed.

They moved incredibly fast.

But speed is not enough.

"Kotaru! Come on!" Kirito shouted, buried in arms strained against the door, looking at a tiny gap. Dynamm pulled back, unsheathed his sword, and jammed it against the remaining closing gap.

In the precious moments when Dynamm's sword held, there was a haunting glimpse.

Kirito saw Kotaru turn around, as a huge, white, terrifying creature dropped down.

Five HP bars. The name was too far away to read. But it was clear.

The scouting party's fate was sealed.

The sword disintegrated, and the doors closed.

 


	16. The Last Day

_Floor 74 Outskirts_

Lisbeth opened the manor door, seeing the team.

"You guys got a lot of good materials!"she smiled cheerfully, but all she got in return were depressed faces, and weak smiles.

"Good job," Dynamm patted her on the shoulders, before flopping on the couch, along with Issin and Dale. Silica sat cross-legged, brought Pina to her lap, and just petted her absentmindedly. And everyone else went up to the second floor, claiming rooms.

"You guys seriously _cannot_ be this depressing." Lisbeth said, and

went towards the living room. "I found a workshop, and you guys found a lot of materials. I made some new equipment."

No reaction besides a few glances and nods.

"Okay, what's the problem?" Lisbeth leaned against a wall.

"We saw an entire party of players, die." Issin answered. "We didn't really know them, but, well, it's still pretty bad." Silica added.

"Alright, you know what, come with me." Lisbeth declared, heading to the basement stairs.

"Why?" Dynamm questioned, but Lisbeth didn't stop.

"Just come."

Silica shrugged, and tossed Pina to the air, the dragon starting to hover at eye level.

"Might as well," Dynamm expressed, gesturing to Dale and Issin to get up. They followed Lisbeth to the basement, a dark place lit by lanterns, fully stocked with crafting stations.

"I still have a lot of raw stuff, because I didn't know exactly what weapons you guys used. I know for a fact though," Lisbeth said while picking up a longsword from a weapon rack. "That you Dynamm, use a longsword." She threw the sword to him, the scabbard still on. Dynamm caught it, and laid it on a nearby table, and accessed the information.

"Bonescythe," Dynamm muttered. "Eight hundred and fifty damage. _Nice,_ " Dynamm was suitably impressed, and unsheathed it, revealing a grey blade, with a black crosspiece with a red, gleaming, spider eye in the middle.

"Seriously nice job," he grinned, and equipped it.

"I'm sorry, but where is my sword?" Dale joked.

"Coming right up!" Lisbeth laughed, putting a lump of rock and metal to a furnace.

Asuna laid down on a bed, in a mostly empty room, with two side tables, and a lamp. Her armor was replaced with clothes. Her thoughts wandered around, wondering about what she saw in the 75th boss room.

The doors shut behind you, and it was extremely dark. It was unlike anything she ever saw.

Like that time when Sachi died...

She quickly composed herself.

They have to relay that information tomorrow.

Her thoughts were broken, when she heard something in the next room. Asuna took the bedroom besides Kirito, mostly because Kirito was someone she admired.

The sound repeated. Sniffling.

She slowly went out, and silently walked towards Kirito's door.

"Come in," Kirito called out, detecting Asuna. She was startled, but went in anyways.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked gently. Kirito was sitting on his bed, his back against the wall, and was rubbing his eyes profusely before facing Asuna.

"Everything's okay," he said, but Asuna gave him a prying look. "No it's not. When you go seclude yourself like this, you're hiding something. It's really obvious, actually."

No reply. Asuna sat down in his bed.

"How long did you stay with Kotaru?"

"A month. I needed to join someone to survive frontline dungeons, but I couldn't really bring myself to face you guys either." Kirito admitted, making her sit down with him.

"So you were friends to… the people trapped there." She inferred. Kirito nodded.

"Yeah. They helped me get that coat you made Klein destroy."

"Oh, wow! Um, sorry about that," Asuna realized and blushed, but Kirito didn't mind.

"It's okay."

"I understand that losing a friend is very painful. Trust me, I know. But secluding yourself doesn't really help." Asuna looked at him for a response.

Kirito stayed silent, and wiped his face even more.

"Are you.. Are you crying?" Asuna accused, trying to look at him more clearly.

"Um, no."

"Right," she scooted closer.

"Yes." Kirito changed his answer reluctantly.

"Want a hug?" Asuna suggested, almost shocking him.

But, there was after we defeated Nicholas the Renegade…

"Yeah," he answered, hugging her a bit tightly.

"It's just that, there's just so many deaths, and the stuff we went through. I mean, I killed someone! I.. _contributed_!" he poured out his feelings, tearing up on Asuna's shoulder. "How do you deal with that?!"

"I just keep going. Dwelling in the past does not do anything, really." She answered.

The door burst open, revealing Harry Two.

"Hey guys! Lisbeth's making cool crap!" he blurted out, then he saw them.

_Hugging_.

"Okay, I understand. Use protection, 'kay!" Harry Two responded quickly before running away, laughing. They both noticeably scooted away from each other. .

"Anyway, thanks for cheering me up. You're a really good friend to me." Kirito said sincerely, making Asuna turn away blushing.

"That's what friends are for, right?"

* * *

_Floor 75- Clearer Meeting_

"Thinker's message said that the meeting place is here," Kirito said, entering a tavern. They seemed to be first, as there wasn't any players.

Except the top DDA leaders.

"Oh, great." Recon muttered.

"Fūrin Kazan. You know, this is a meeting for Clearers. _Not criminals_!" The DDA vanguard leader bellowed.

"Remember the last time we met?" Asuna responded. "You were going to ambush me! Unless you want to forget about that."

That only seemed to have infuriated him further.

"Except we aren't related to Laughing-"

"Enough!" Thinker shouted. He was backed by ALF Sub Leaders. "They fought alongside you for two years! Are you really going to forget that?"

Their conversation was interrupted when KoB leaders entered the tavern, behind them smaller guilds, including Fuumaningun.

"Let's get this started." A KoB leader with brown hair, and grey eyes, started off the meeting.

"My guild's scouting party found the boss room, but they all died." A man named Isuke said solemnly, as he was Kotaru's replacement to the guild.

"They died because they were trapped in the room," Kirito announced, looking sympathetically at Isuke, "The doors close behind you, and the boss, I couldn't make out the stats, but it drops from the ceiling." Issin finished.

"Wait, if the doors closed, how did you know what the boss does?" the DDA leader asked.

"I wedged a sword between the gap. The sword broke, but it bought us time." Dynamm automatically said.

"No point on closing the doors though; we can just teleport-" a KoB Sub Leader said, before Isuke interfered.

"If _THAT_ worked, the scouting party would still be here. Once we go in, we can't go out." Isuke said, sounding strained. The rebuked man nodded, rethinking his strategy.

"…Well, we'll just carry extra healing items then." He answered hesitantly. Doubts filled the tavern. At least, until Keita showed.

The Moonlit Black Cats bust into the tavern.

"Sorry we're late! What's the game plan?" Keita asked a bit too loudly.

"So, to clarify," Thinker said, "We're just charging in?"

"Well, yes." The leader responded. "That's it. We follow the same formations as the 73rd boss. We're meeting at the plaza at Corinth after two hours. Agreed?"

All the guild leaders nodded.

"Okay."

Various guilds started to leave after that.

"I expected a bit more than that," Keita admitted, seeing the players move past them.

"Well, we don't have a lot of info. And we couldn't really get more than what we know." Kirito answered back. Keita shrugged.

"All right then. Come on, guys," he called towards the rest of the Black Cats, and they set off.

* * *

_Manor Basement_

The guild went down the stairs, and into the workshop, where Lisbeth was reading from a piece of paper.

"Oh, hey! The rest of you finally came down here! Now, Kirito, did Klein give you the sword yet?" Lisbeth said. Kirito nodded.

"Yeah, actually. I wanted to give Blinkstrike back-"

"Yeah, that sword's crap, throw it in the furnace." She responded nonchalantly. Kirito threw the blue-hilted silvery sword to a basket marked 'SCRAP'.

"First masterpiece, now _crap_ ," Kirito muttered.

"Asuna, that rapier of yours, Lambent Light, I need it." Lisbeth held out an open hand, and Asuna gave her the blue and white rapier.

She immediately threw it to the furnace.

"Um, just right there? The quality you can only achieve every three _months_?" Asuna weakly pointed to the furnace.

"I got _better_ , Asuna." She replied again in that 'just let me do my job' tone. "I'm making a new one. Klein! New katana's on the desk."

"Cool!" He tossed Heartless Reaver to the scrap box, and equipped the red curved scabbard.

She quickly took a ingot out of a furnace, a silver ingot with blue slivers on the surface, and tossed Blinkstrike in.

"Now Lambent Light's ingot and Blinkstrike's ingot when combined forms a really good speed type ingot, hopefully." Lisbeth rambled while transferring from station to station, her mind multitasking efficiently.

"Right, here goes…" She placed two ingots on top of each other, and took out a hammer. She smashed the top ingot into the bottom one, and a glow bathed it. Once it faded, she looked at the product in awe.

A near transparent ingot with a bluish hue.

[Lightning Glass]

"S Class. Speed type." She muttered, checking the stats. "I hope you don't mind me splurging on high level equipment when you were gone." She said to Kirito. He had a look of calm fury on his face, but quickly calmed down.

Lisbeth got a hammer, and started boosting her Luck stat, while Asuna watched in awe.

"Okay. Here goes," She smacked the ingot once, and it already took form. "Yes! I got it on the first try! It's going to be a good one!" She squealed. Asuna saw it form.

[Lightning Shard]

It had a thin white and blue blade, a white, clear blade, with dark blue forming a opaque middle, separating both sides of the blade. The hilt was circular, and was navy blue. She took it, and thrusted, the tip of the blade forming sparks seemingly from friction from the air.

"It's _very_ good," Asuna grinned, and sheathed it. Lisbeth smiled, and faced Kirito.

"Let's get started on yours."

* * *

_Floor 75 Main City- Corinth Plaza_

Kirito walked to the Clearer gathering, the guild outfitted and ready, for what was going to be the final time, his dark red coat attracting attention.

"I'll join you guys in boss battles sometime," Lisbeth said.

"We're predicting that to be in the final ten floors." Klein responded, eliciting a eye roll from her.

"Holy crap. Agil." Harry zone said, surprising everyone from his normally calm demeanour.

"Oh hey! The Elementals!" The tall man said.

"Don't call us that," Dynamm groaned.

"It's been a long time," Asuna continued the conversation, "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Not missing the 75th mark! We're three quarters in!"

Agil heard Lisbeth sigh.

"I haven't seen you before, who's she?" he asked Kirito.

"She's Lisbeth-"

"She replaced you as our weapons source," Kunimittz said bluntly, causing her to slink out from embarrassment.

" _Dude_ -" Klein elbowed him, but was interrupted by the Knights of the Blood Oath entering.

Heathcliff led a group of heavily armoured warriors through, the players clearing a path. When Heathcliff passed Kirito, they stared at each other, with contempt.

"Well, I have some friends to meet up with. Bye!" Agil left.

Heathcliff took out a Corridor Crystal, surprising players around them with the rarity of the object, and he broke it, forming a huge portal.

"Follow me!" He yelled, and walked in the portal, the Clearers following behind. They finally ended up on the dark room, with the boss room.

"Let's do this," Kirito muttered, unsheathing twin swords. The smaller guilds seemed to rally behind them, despite the past events.

"The Knights of the Blood Oath will tank damage. Divine Dragon Alliance will be backup for the forwards. Fūrin Kazan," Heathcliff called, surprising Kirito with the specific command.

"Lead the guilds in damage dealing. Now, let's go!" He pushed open the doors, and charged into the darkened space, leading the Clearers forward.

The doors closed shut behind them.

"Above us!"

Kirito stared at the inky black above, trying to make something out. The monster came from above, but he didn't know where from the ceiling.

Four red dots sparked to life in the darkness, and the monster dropped down, disintegrating anyone below. A reddish light filled the room, revealing it.

A skeletal creature, with bony legs like a caterpillar, and a single spine, rising to a elongated skull with four glowing red eyes, with two limbs with sharpened bone.

[The Skull Reaper]

"Oh, god," a nearby player shook with fear, before the reaper rushed, and stabbed it with it's appendages, disintegrating him instantly.

"To the sides!"

Everyone rushed to the borders of the circular arena. The boss rushed again to another player, it's numerous bony legs scuttling about.

A sharpened arm was headed to a player's body, before it was intercepted.

By Heathcliff. The attack was blocked effectively by the indestructible shield, and the boss started to take interest to the knight. He blocked, then countered it's attack, slashing at the head.

"Everyone! Attack the sides!" Heathcliff shouted, snapping Kirito from his frozen state, and into action.

"Everyone with shields! Block the attacks!" The twins came in directly beside Heathcliff, holding their tower shields forward. They overlapped their shields with one another, a trick from the 74th boss battle. They repulsed the attacks.

"Everyone else, attack!" Kirito led the group into attacking the skeleton, activating Starburst Stream. Streaks of light were everywhere, lighting the room up, with random colours.

"You're tougher than I thought!" Harry Two muttered, blocking and smashing the mace to the bones.

Harry One kept blocking, though the strain was setting in. The white monster was relentless, never faltering.

Though something unexpected happened. The arm blades of the Skull Reaper glowed purple. The boss seemed to pause, and everyone knew there was some kind of power attack, and kept their shields up. The boss struck, in a swipe so powerful, it knocked people away, and disintegrated any weapons or shields it struck, except Heathcliff's. However, it knocked him away.

Unfortunately, the attack disintegrated the twin's shields, and left them laying on the ground, helpless. The arm blade stabbed Harry Two's chest, making him disintegrate, before a backup forward covered him.

"You don't have a shield! Go to the sides!" The forward said, warding off attacks. Harry One stared at his brother's location, before heading to Kirito.

Kirito kept slashing like there's no tomorrow, the glowing twin blades always whirling forward. Sometimes the legs would kick against players from the sides, but it didn't stop him.

"Kirito! Harry Two's dead!" Harry One's voice broke, and the dark-red clad teenager paused.

"Crap!" He exclaimed. He looked at Harry One, the brown haired person looking at him for instructions.

"Join me!" Kirito commanded, and resumed attacking the boss' sides. Harry One took a deep breath, and smashed the skeleton.

While the boss was relentless, the players were relentless too. The Skull Reaper's HP went down in a steady rate.

The boss let out one final roar, before disintegrating into air. Braziers lit around them, signalling the completion.

But the victory was bittersweet.

"We lost Harry Two," Kirito spread around Fūrin Kazan.

"Shit," Dynamm reacted. Everyone was tired, beyond fatigue, everyone has taken enormous amounts of damage, all in the red zone. Except Heathcliff, still in the green zone.

"Heathcliff was in the front the whole time. He was even hit with a move that destroys equipment. But he's still…" Harry One said to Kirito. Harry One kept himself in check, not losing his temper, knowing it might worsen the situation. Unfortunately, Kirito, is no such person. He stood up, staring angrily at the red knight.

"You trap us here, for two years, and you have the balls to fight with us?!" Kirito yelled at him, while getting closer. Everyone looked at Kirito, shocked. Some KoB members stand up, intent on protecting Heathcliff. Kirito quickly cleared the distance between him and the Templar, striking him.

[Immortal Object]

"So you let us _die_ , but not you? Even if you're so powerful?" Kirito quivered.

That action proved everyone of Kayaba's presence. The master stood up.

"Fine. I am Akihiko Kayaba. Of course, _you_ knew that already," Kirito hardened, and stayed silent.

"I was going to reveal my identity later on, in the final ten floors, but I guess this time's good as any," he mused, and the DDA leader stood up.

"You sentenced us here! I'm going to make you _pay_!" the player cried, and charged, hitting the immortal object shield over and over again, fruitlessly. Kayaba sighed, and instantly killed him, with one sword thrust.

The players watched the total lack of emotion from the kill.

"See you on the top floor," Kayaba announced, and started to leave, opening the menu, however Kirito tackled him, making the menu disappear from Kayaba's hand.

He retaliated, by pushing Kirito away powerfully.

Kayaba picked himself up, and ended up face to face with Klein.

They wrestled with each other for a while, before kicking him away, and finally paralyzing everyone around him.

"I'm not going to let you leave!" Kirito yelled, trying to crawl forwards, before giving up from fatigue.

Kayaba noticed, and walked towards the limp body, with a change of mind.

I'm going to die in the end anyway, he thought.

"Kirito. You know, I gave you Dual Blades, because you had the fastest reaction time. I thought of you as my counterpart," he confessed, and Kirito was confused with the sudden revelation.

"I was going to be defeated at the end anyway, at the Ruby Palace. But your guild found out early. Perhaps you should receive a reward,"

"What reward?" Kirito seethed.

"A chance for freedom,"Kayaba said, thinking of a epic battle between champion and god. "A duel to the death. I die, you earn your freedom." Kayaba picked Kirito up, curing his paralysis.

"Deal?"

"Kirito, don't!" Asuna impulsively shouted. Kirito bowed his head.

"Sorry, but this is a chance I have to take." Kirito started to look over his guild. "Guys, thanks for watching my back for two years." They stayed silent, knowing they cannot change his decision.

"Kirito… Be careful, okay?" Klein told him, his voice filled with worry. He nodded silently in return.

He accepted the duel request. Kayaba deactivated his immortality.

"If I die, all of you can go free. But if _I_ win, I will continue to rule over everybody."

They dashed at each other, shield clashing with a flurry of sword slashes, Kirito hacking away.

_No Sword Skills, he can predict them,_ Kirito thought, _it has to be my own strikes._ Kayaba slammed his shield to Kirito, sending him back a considerable distance. Kirito rushed back in the fray, staring to aim downward, hitting the legs, making little gashes. Heathcliff again, pushed him back, and Kirito started to prod around him, trying above, below, but that indestructible shield got in the way.

His swords glowed blue. He accidentally activated Pre-Motion, unleashing a whirlwhind of attacks, which Kayaba easily blocked. Once it was over, he smashed one of Kirito's weapons away, and lunged, but his opponent twisted sideways, and managed to stab his side, before falling over.

Kirito, with only the sword made out of his old coat, picked himself up. Kayaba was charging, and the red coated player jumped over him, and rushed to Dynamm.

"Kirito! Get my sword!" he shouted quickly. Kirito scrambled down, and grabbed the bone sword's handle, before immediately turning around, and parrying Kayaba's attack, kicking him away.

Kirito scrambled up, and analyzed Kayaba again.

"Eliminate the shield," he whispered, and attacked him once more, parrying Kayaba's sword with Kirito's left sword, and waiting for Kayaba to try and bash him out again. He stepped back, the shield arcing right in front of him, and when it was outstretched, Kirito decapitated the arm holding the shield. Unfortunately, he didn't pay attention to the sword that was holding Kayaba's in check before it was too late. Kayaba's sword wrestled away from the parry, and stabbed Kirito outright for a few seconds, before he leaped away. Kirito landed on his back, and quickly recovered, a sliver of health remaining.

Kayaba only had one sword left, with a look of acceptance in his face. Kirito rushed, and impaled him.

Kayaba closed his eyes, letting himself disintegrate.

Kirito stood quietly, while the players around him started to stand up.

A prompt started to pop up in front of players.

[Log Out Function, enabled]

Everyone left and right started accessing menus, disappearing from the world. Kirito looked at his guild again.

They were all in their menus.

Kirito couldn't blame them, and started accessing his own.

"Hey guys," Fūrin Kazan looked to their leader.

"See you on the other side," Kirito finished, and the all nodded.

"Got it!"

They all logged out, save for Asuna and Kirito.

Kirito pressed the log out button, but in the moments before he left, Asuna, looking around, and seeing no one, ran and kissed him, a bit awkwardly. Kirito looked at her in shock, before leaving.

"I'll find you," she whispered, blushing, and logged out as well.

Kirito opened his crusty, tired eyes, blinded by white light, from two years of inactivity. It was cold, and he felt weak, but he felt his heart beating, for the first time in two years. He took off the NerveGear, but it felt heavy, from weak fingers. Tufts of hair were freed. He sat up, and he heard several doctors and nurses scream. On his left, was another bed, and his sister slowly took off the NerveGear, gasping, as she consciously inhaled air for the first time in two years.

" _You're out! They're out!_ " Kirito heard the various voices repeat that line.

They were truly free.

 


	17. Six Months Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Epilogue

 

 

 

It was six months. Kirito spent half in the hospital, in intensive rehabilitation.

And the other half, tracking down his guild.

Kirito got into his mom's grey sedan, along with Suguha, and Recon. Recon lived nearby their house, and was easy to track down. The rest of the guild, not so easy, but they did it!

The guild is meeting again, the first time after the incident. They collaborated, almost all of them, into organizing and meeting each other. Kirito's mom started to drive out of the street. Suguha yawned. It was 8 AM on Saturday, and they had to carpool with her mom on her ride to work, getting dropped off along the ride.

"So, how did your guild do?" His mom asked. Kirito hesitated.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"I know how MMOs work, Kazuto! I used to play them! I didn't buy the NerveGear just because you wanted it; I liked the idea of virtual gaming." his mother shocked the entire car. Recon whispered to Suguha.

"Your mom did that?"

"I didn't know!" She responded.

"So, again, how did your guild do?"

"Okay, I guess." Kirito responded in a small voice. His mom didn't take it.

"Really? You played that beta test obsessively."

"I thought you would hate SAO. It trapped us in the game." The three teenagers started to look for his mother's response.

"Well, I know it was bad, but, it was the creator that was bad. Not the game itself."

They drove for a few minutes, before arriving.

"Dicey Café, right?" The bar's entrance wasn't much. A window, and a door. The mother saw past the window.

"Alright then. I have to go to work now. Call when you're done, but otherwise, I'll pick you up at nine." The teenagers got off, and saw the car drive off.

Kirito opened the door of the café. The interior was wooden, and there was a bar, several tables, and Agil, stretching. His face quickly lit up.

"Oh, Kirito! Nice to see you again! Have a seat."

When they sat at a nearby table, Agil quickly delivered them water.

"You're really early. You're the first ones."

"Yeah, we noticed." Recon looked around even more. There was a couple of round table booths, designed to seat an entire group. The seats were cushioned, and there was a flatscreen on a wall above the cabinet of drinks.

The door opened, and in came a person with a familiar red headband.

"Hey, guys! It's really good to see you again."

"Klein!" Recon called out. The 20-something man grinned, and was carrying plastic bags with boxes.

"Where's your friends?"

"I communicated through the Internet, but I haven't seen them physically, for a long while. They're coming. I'm sure of that."

He then started to put the plastic bags onto the table.

"What's this?" Suguha looked at a box. It was white, and slim. A picture depicted a white plastic band, with glass on the front. It was a fairly sleek, futuristic design. And the text was equally modern.

_Amusphere_.

"Gifts! Me and my friends bought these online, and we collaborated so that you also get these, since you can't, y'know, earn money."

Klein handed out the boxes to the three of them. Kirito noticed the three others. Klein saw his look.

"They're for Lisbeth, Silica, and Asuna, wherever they are. By the way, about Asuna…"

"The daughter of a CEO." Kirito finished his sentence. "She was really easy to find, but hard to communicate with. I kept trying, but I kept hearing his dad's voicemail. I don't know why you bothered to buy her this. She's not coming."

That left a bittersweet silence on them. Agil tried to break the mood.

"Amuspheres, eh? You're lucky to get them for free." The tall man said.

"Klein, you bought us NerveGears?" Recon asked.

"They're a lot safer. Trust me. We bought games too." Klein brought out cases.

"Alfheim?" Kirito glanced at the world map behind it, but his thoughts were interrupted.

"Alfheim!" Lisbeth yelled after hearing it, right after coming through the door. She ran to them, and started rambling. "It's really good, you should play it!"

"What's it about?" Kirito asked.

"Well, it's not really about the plot, but the stuff going on inside. There's faction wars! Klein, you played it, right?" He agreed. "It's really cool. They say it's a huge reboot of SAO. The employees that worked on it joined them after Argo, the company who made SAO, went bankrupt. They integrated Sword Skills and stuff!"

They were clearly excited. Kirito considered it.

"I'll give it a try."

Klein looked at the other two.

"What about you two? Are you going to try?" The duo looked at each other. "I dunno. I don't think my parents would like it. But, I for one, would try. What about you, Suguha?"

The shy girl shifted uncomfortably.

"No thanks." Memories of her time in SAO were remembered. Klein nodded.

"It's okay."

"So, Klein! Told them about Alfheim yet?" Dynamm opened the door in the shop, his mouth immediately opened. Kunimittz followed, sitting.

"How'd you like the Amuspheres?" Kunimittz said, looking at a menu on a table.

"They're great, thanks." Kirito smiled a bit. The rest started to arrive, a sudden influx. Harry One silently sat nearby, and tall, big Dale started to walk to him. And, Issin, strangely, seemed very happy.

"Kirito! Man, we're back together! Well, almost." The large man said excitedly, lounging on a booth. Agil decided to turn on the mounted TV, to a local news network.

"If you don't mind, I put an ad up for SAO survivors to come here. Private party, and I used your guild's name." Agil grinned slyly. Kirito sighed.

"Really, Agil? Really?" The teenager had a pained look on his face, though, Kirito wasn't too serious.

"Relax! I'll be fun!"

The group's happy expressions faded once they see a news report. Of the remaining 300 trapped NerveGear players. Apparently, police think it's related to RECT Inc., but they haven't found proof yet.

"I checked the list of people trapped. None of us is in there." Kirito remarked. "But, there's still that."

"The Amusphere's safe, right?" Suguha asked curiously. Lisbeth nodded, and decided to change the mood of the room. "It can't fry brains. And Alfheim's fun. You can fly, and fight in this massive war between races! Issin's a _leader_ of one race!" She was interrupted by the skinny man himself .

"Yeah, I'm the elected leader of one race. The smallest one though. Only around 40000 thousand. The race isn't a popular choice." Issin partially gloated, and admitted. Kirito sniffed.

"Forty thousand is pretty large, isn't it?"

"Compared to a million, it's four percent. Almost half of the players is in three races. They're really popular. One makes you control fire, another makes you the fastest in flying, and the other makes you a beast tamer with swords and all that." They were interrupted by Silica, who came in, hearing about the Beast Tamer Race.

She's the last guild member that would arrive.

"I heard about the Cait Sith. I wish I could play, but my parents really don't want me to touch anything remotely VR anymore," Silica said, almost disdainfully, but she understood why the restrictions in place.

"Well, that sucks." Recon responded, sympathizing. Lisbeth then finally remembered something crucially important.

"Oh, and your SAO skills and levels carry on to Alfheim."

"What?! You're _serious_?!" Kirito said out loud, surprising everyone. Lisbeth nodded. "Yes, but your equipment has to be deleted to avoid corrupting the game. Why do you think Issin's a leader? Because of his charisma?" Lisbeth joked, earning a few chuckles.

"Really, Lisbeth? Just like that?" The man himself replied sarcastically. Kunimittz grinned at him. "That was a good insult. Feel the shame, Issin." Kunimittz drawled, in between sips of coffee. Issin simply told him to shut up, shrugging off the casual insults, and explained more of the game to Kirito.

"Anyway, the game's extremely cool: There's these big wars for power between races, and apparently, the first race to reach the top of this huge tree would get to fly around all the time, and be glorious."

"Wait, how does flying work?" Recon asked.

"Everybody's fairies, so you get to sprout wings and fly. You first need this assisting controller, but you can train yourself to fly on your own easily. And you got a time limit. Around 10 minutes."

Kirito nodded, sipping a glass of water. Suddenly, half the guild cheered when Agil brought a tray of grilled chicken skewers to the table. Everybody took one, and Kirito bit into it. The gums in the back of his front teeth immediately flared.

" _Tew hawt_ ," Kirito sputtered awkwardly, then held the skewer up to cool it down. Klein sat down next to him.

"So we were thinking, because of the huge wars in Alfheim, we should try to unite everyone together to team up and complete the main quest." Klein suggested.

"What's up with the main quest?"

"Each race can't do it by themselves. They have to team up, y'know. Now, due to the SAO save corruption, delete all your equipment. Also, you're gonna land in Alne, the central city, instead of your race's home country. We'll be meeting at the base of the world tree, with two giant statues."

Kirito memorized the instructions.

"Is Kirito on board?" Lisbeth asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"Yes! I finally have something to do in school!" The girl grinned at herself.

"Oh, it starts in three months, right?" Suguha entered the conversation.

"Still," Lisbeth said. Platters of steaming food started to arrive at the table.

"Dig in!" Agil laughed.

* * *

The party was in full blast. SAO survivors cheering and laughing as they remembered memories from the game. Kirito didn't really like the attention, as everyone recognized the Twin Swordsman, and slipped away, outside, under the pretense to cool off.

Kirito leaned against the wall, soaking in the cold evening air.

" I didn't miss anything, did I?" A light voice called out. Kirito looked at the source. Asuna. She blushed when he looked.

"You're really late,"

"Sorry,"

"No, no, it's okay."

An awkward silence passed.

"Kirito, back then, when I kissed you, do you hate me now because of that?" Asuna said, looping her hair with her fingers.

"N-no, I actually... liked it," he confessed.

And her elation was worth it.

 

 

 

 


End file.
